


The Everglades

by Golden_littlebird



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Anxiety, Bullying, Canon Related, Canon-Typical Violence, Declarations Of Love, Drama, Drama & Romance, Enemies, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Enemies, Friendship/Love, Long, Love, Magic, Major Character Injury, Multi, References to Depression, Rivalry, Romantic Friendship, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Speech Disorders, Threats of Violence, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:42:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 36,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29596407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golden_littlebird/pseuds/Golden_littlebird
Summary: "Everglades are the only place on earth in which crocodiles and alligators can co-exist. Naturally, they are extremely dangerous to swim in."A coming of age story that follows the journey of Severus Snape as he enters Hogwarts, and up until the War.Important Note: I do not in any way support JK Rowling’s horrible transphobic views.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Lily Evans Potter & Severus Snape, Lily Evans Potter/Severus Snape, Severus Snape & Original Female Character(s), Severus Snape/Original Female Character(s), Severus Snape/Other(s)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 25





	1. Library Books & Soap Operas

**Author's Note:**

> The next chapter will be up very soon, and will be much longer. For some reason the first chapter always seems to be the shortest and the hardest to write!
> 
> please feel free to comment! I'd love to hear any kind of feedback. :)

Severus hated many things about the Winter season; however, the concept of Winter Holiday definitely took the cake. He would be stuck inside his small bedroom all day, wrapped in his covers, re reading the same few books he had finished weeks ago. 

Library trips were reserved when his mother had time off, and he couldn’t remember the last time she had time off from work. It made him anxious, looking at the pile of four books on his desk that he had finished. They were overdue. And he knew that his mother would have to sigh, pay the fee, and then deal with the aftermath when they got home. And even though she had time off right now… he knew the fee would be more than five quid and he didn’t want to stress her out more so than she already was. He thought he would go by himself and maybe hove them in the deposit box, and just take the bus home. But then, he would need bus fare… He closed his eyes and placed the duvet over his face in despair. 

The anxiety of those damn overdue library books… he didn’t even want to reach for them again. Each time he’d turn the page he’d remember the predicament he was in, and it would only make it worse. Even at eight years old, Severus knew what stress was. And it would form on his forehead, tightening his jaw, and flexing his knuckles, he would deal with headaches if he thought about his problems too much. Not only that, it would make him stutter. But that was another can of worms. 

He lifted the duvet, and glanced out his window, covered in a thin layer of frost which made it too blurry to see what was outside. He could go out, make snow angels and snowmen, build a fort… He sighed. No, he knew the theatre that would cause. He knew there would be a risk of catching a cold, playing in the snow. And if he caught a cold that would mean a trip to the doctor, which meant his mother had to take more time off, his father would yell at her… he groaned and fell back onto his bed, covering himself with the duvet- now dealing with an aching headache. 

It was too early in the day to take a nap, and it was too bright to even consider the idea anyways- he didn’t have curtains that would black out his room. He rose from his bed, and walked down the narrow creaky staircase into the living room. To his luck, his father wasn’t home. He never asked where he was- frankly he was too happy to care about where that man spent his time, as long as it wasn’t at home. 

His mother was on the couch, watching television. She was watching some French soap opera show that Severus didn’t quite understand- there was a lot of conversation, mostly done with expressive gestures and slaps to the face, once he saw a character with a funny looking moustache slap a maid on screen. 

But the soap opera shows his mother liked to watch, although he didn’t understand what exactly they were saying, made him feel relieved. It was a soundtrack of bliss, he thought- he wasn’t here to ruin it for his mother. Eileen Prince would make herself a cup of Orange Pekoe tea, and sit on the couch, her eyes glued to the love affairs and dramatic feuds of the Bandeaux Manor. 

Severus walked over and sat next to her, leaning back on the couch lazily. The maid was back this episode, and she was talking to the old lady who Severus assumed was possibly someone’s grandmother. They both looked very serious. 

“Would you like to watch something?” She asked, looking over at him. Severus avoided looking back at her. Mostly because she hadn’t used any makeup to cover the reminisce of her black eye. “It’s okay.” He answered, simply. She looked back at the television. 

“It’s your birthday next week.” She said once the commercial break came on. He sank further on the couch, despising the topic all together. She looked at him and smiled, placing her hand on top of his head. It was warm from holding her drink. And it felt nice.  
“I…don’t w-want anything.” He said at once, his eyes watching an advertisement for floor polish. “Nonsense. It’s your eighth. You know what that means, right? Another year closer to Hogwarts!” She chuckled sweetly, ruffling his hair. Severus looked up at her, and forced a smile. 

His mother had discussed with him at length the realities of the Wizarding world, and would read to him when he was younger about the magical beasts he would see and tame, would show him moving photographs of the castle in Scotland, and describe to him the rules of Quidditch. She would tell him these stories with excitement in her voice, but Severus saw nothing but sadness in her expression. 

Of course, Eileen Prince was indeed always sad-looking. One of Severus’ neighbours had said it while he had been outside reading: “She’s a sad looking woman, your mum.” He remembered feeling angry that they had said something so rude. But they were one-hundred percent right. 

Still, when Eileen discussed Hogwarts, and the Wizarding world, she was forced to relive a life she had walked away from almost eight years ago. And, that was something Eileen Prince made an effort never to say out loud. But even for Severus, being so young, could easily tell she missed it dearly.  
Therefore, he made an effort to not ask too many questions about it. He was excited about it, thrilled to see everything in person, but in a way- he hated when his mother would talk about it all- he could see the regret so clearly.

“It’s one whole year closer of receiving your letter. We’ll get it in the post. And if we don’t get it in the post, an owl might tap on your window!” She chuckled, raising her brows. Severus parted his lips, imagining a white owl tapping on his frost covered window to no avail. He worried if the owl’s beak might break, and decided he would have to wipe it down his window the night before his eleventh birthday with a cloth to make sure it wouldn’t.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the heavy footsteps going up the porch. You could always hear if someone was coming up the porch steps- the walls and doors of Severus’ house were so thin and crippled, no wonder why it always felt so cold. Severus knew at once it was his father. 

He knew and memorized everyone’s steps- his father's were the ones that would make his mouth feel dry and his heart sink. He quickly got up from the couch, and Eileen quickly turned off the television- which was a shame, because the advertisements were just over. The image of the Bordeaux Mansion and tacky violin music was silenced at once by the black pixels controlled by the sad-looking woman, now robbed of her perfect day.

Severus reached the bottom step of the stairs once the door had opened, cold wind blowing into the small living room, and the broad tall man who carried with him the scent of alcohol and gasoline would have to kick the door closed. The scent of orange pekoe disappearing. 

“Need to get the damn oil changed.” He scoffed, locking the door shut, and everyone else inside with him. Severus was about to run up the stairs but Tobias Snape had caught his glance and quickly snapped his fingers at him. “In such a rush, are we? Sit down.” He scoffed, pointing at the couch. Severus clenched his jaw, and slowly walked back to the couch, but instead of laying on it lazily, he sat at the very edge of the cushion, staring at the staircase with desperation.

“The car isn’t working?” His mother asked, her voice soft and cautious. She was trying to feel out if he thought it was her fault. Tobias took off his hat, tossing it on the small hook by the door and shook his head, kicking off his boots. “Car can’t work all that well when it needs it’s oil changed, does it?” He sneered. “N-no, I suppose not…” She chuckled, shaking her head. 

“Call Bertie tomorrow. Let him handle it, he owes me anyway.” Tobias ordered, walking over into the kitchen and taking out a bottle of Carling Beer. Severus came to hate the colour of the burnt orange labeling of that bottle. Severus assumed Bertie must be the man who fixed their lights a few months ago, he had a utility kit and everything- he looked like one of those handymen in the cartoons. Severus wondered if Bertie had also fixed cars, do handymen just know how to fix everything? 

“We’ll need it fixed by tomorrow. I need to pick up something.” She said, putting her mug down and looking over at her husband. Tobias scoffed, raising a brow at her. “What the hell do you need?” He asked. Severus looked back at the stairwell- he didn’t want to hear this. But of course, Tobias knew that, which only made it worse.

“It’s Severus’ birthday soon.” Eileen chuckled shyly, looking up at her husband with hopeful eyes. “He already got a present, don’ he?” He scoffed, now standing right in front of him. Severus looked up at the tall man, dirty blonde hair that was wet from snowflakes, eyes evil and narrow. Eileen scoffed, furrowing her brows in confusion- “What present?” She asked.

Tobias tilted his head, a sneer quickly developing, and handed Severus his empty bottle of beer. “There. You got yourself a nice little jar to put things in.” He laughed. Eileen looked away, probably at the remote control. Severus cringed, staring at the orange label with nothing but hate. “Aren’t you going to say thank you?” He scoffed, raising his hand and swatting Severus’ head. 

Severus quickly looked up at him, now with a headache, and began to stammer, “Th-Th-” He shut his eyes, his jaw felt so tight he wanted to cry, the words just weren’t able to come out. They never wore, not around such company. “Spit it out!” Tobias groaned, clearly getting more upset. “Don’t.” Eileen sighed, placing her warm hand on Severus’ shoulder. 

“Can’t say a damn thing. Go on, run off then.” He hissed, snapping his fingers again. Severus felt a wave of relief. The torture was over. He quickly shot off the couch, and ran upstairs, hearing the beginning of an argument behind him, and quickly shut the door of his bedroom behind him. 

He leaned against the door, holding the bottle in his hand and looked down at it. He thought of smashing it against his desk, maybe stabbing it into the side of the drunk man downstairs as a nice little thank you. He had seen it done in a movie once. He sighed, and placed it on his desk- he’d throw it out in the bins later. 

He glanced at the frost covered window again, and thought again of a white owl tapping on it. It would be a nice sound, he thought. A light tapping sound. Nothing like the cries he was now hearing downstairs.


	2. Medieval Knights & Crusader Towers

Severus sat at the dining table by the large window that overlooked the front porch. He watched as Bertie, who wasn’t the cartoon handyman as hypothesized, fixed the car. The oil change, as Severus overheard, was easily done- but apparently there was something wrong with the engine. 

“You’ll have to go into town to get the parts, I don’t have them.” Bertie said to Eileen, who unsurprisingly did not take this news well. Severus knew exactly what she was worrying about- she’d be blamed for it, probably. 

“Thanks anyway.” She sighed. Bertie sniffed, his round nose red from the cold. “I could take you now, if you want.” Severus raised his brows at this, and his mind quickly began to race with all the things he could do if he was home alone. The race was rather short, he realized how there wasn’t much to do anyway. 

“That’s kind of you.” Eileen sighed, shaking her head. Severus frowned, wondering why she hadn’t accepted the offer. It wasn’t long before Bertie, now looking disappointed, climbed back into his yellow truck and drove away from Spinner’s End.

When Severus had asked his mother why she hadn’t accepted the man’s offer, she simply shook her head and replied, “too much for one day.” And this was very much the philosophy that overtook the Snape household during the Holiday break. Because there was so little to do, and so much time to do it, every little responsibility was overwhelming. 

Severus looked back outside, it didn’t look as cold as it did the day before, and he was desperate to go out. He couldn’t go out on especially cold days, he hadn’t the proper coat for it. “Don’t talk to those Barker boys.” His mother had ordered before he left out the front door. 

The Barker boys, deemed off-limits, lived a few houses down. Severus didn’t know much about their parents, only that they were rarely ever home. Because of this, when given the chance, Edgar and Jack Barker would throw loud parties that would make the whole street smell like something vile. 

Severus, unlike Eileen and what seemed like the entire neighbourhood, liked the Barker Boys. They were older, already in enrolled in Secondary school. And to Severus’ relief, they had stopped making too much fun of his stutter a few months ago which was nice of them. Essentially, they were the youngest in the neighbourhood, and Severus’ only hope for some company during the long bore of the Winter Holiday. 

To his luck, the brothers were already outside, in their front yard shovelling snow off the driveway. Severus was about to ask if they wanted help but Edgar spoke first, “Oi, who was that in the yellow truck?” He asked. 

“B-B-Bertie. He… came to fix our car.” Severus stammered, feeling his jaw begin to tighten again. 

Edgar rose a brow, “Good. Jack thought it was an undercover B-B-Bobbie.” 

Jack chuckled at this, shaking his head- “Thought she finally called the cops on him.” Severus furrowed his brows at once, and felt his fists tighten in his pockets. He decided rather quickly that he wasn’t going to offer his help after all. 

“You going somewhere?” Edgar asked, taking off his wool hat and scratching the back of his head. Severus nodded, although he wasn’t exactly sure where exactly he was going. Edgar gave a crooked smile after realizing Severus wasn’t going to answer. “Fine then, Sev. Keep your damn secrets.” 

Severus didn’t know why, but as he walked away, he came to realize how many secrets he was keeping from Edgar and Jack Barker. They knew what muggles knew, which as Eileen had joked, was absolutely nothing. He wondered what he’d have to tell the Barkers once he did leave for Hogwarts. 

Maybe they would think he got accepted to some posh boarding school, or that he was staying with some distant grandparent. Severus sighed at the idea, realizing that they probably wouldn’t even notice he was gone. 

His feet, laced up in shoes that were half a size too small, led him to the highest point on Spinner’s End, a small short hill off the corner of the last house down the street. What was strange about this hill was that planted right at the top of it was a large weeping willow tree.

In fact, the tree was the oldest tenant on Spinner’s End. It was planted (as deduced by the Jack Barker) by the rich folk who used to live in the neighbourhood before it became overrun by-and this was how Jack had put it- “low life criminal rats.” 

Edgar had joked about it, “Honestly I think they still keep it up as some sort of museum artifact. Here lies what once was, an expensive tree in a poor neighbourhood. Someone ought to look up the symbolism.” 

But Severus wasn’t interested in the Barker Boy’s interpretations. To him, it was just a tree. In the summer, it would provide shade where Severus would sit and read. And because it was so far away from the other houses, he would try to read out loud. Not well, of course. As soon as three words had come out, his jaw would feel tight, his breath would feel short, and he would have to stop and try all over again. 

In the Spring, the tree would become a lighthouse. It overlooked the dirty river, which was now covered in a thick layer of ice, and Severus would sometimes bring a flashlight with him- guiding imaginary sailors to the shore. Although, today, the tree was more of a lookout tower. 

One of the overdue library books (that Severus had to slide under his bed, due to the stress they would cause) was about the Crusades. His mother had said that Hogwarts wasn’t like the narrow tall Crusader towers that were in his book, Hogwarts was much grander and more elegant, and resembled nothing (as Eileen had put it) like the castle chess piece in chess. 

Nevertheless, this medieval tower was easy enough to climb, and it wasn’t long until he had reached the highest point he possibly could. Severus knew the dangers of it, one wrong move and the brick tower could collapse, but so was the dangerous life of a medieval knight. 

Severus looked over the frozen moat, and over at the village square across the way. The village was known to lucky travellers and traders as Cokeworth. If wealth could be eaten, the members of Cokeworth would be bursting at the seams.

It was a price to pay, Severus thought up in his tower. Spinner’s End had a duty just like any knights of a kingdom had, to keep the crime within its borders, not allowing the grand duchesses and dukes to ever see danger up close. Indeed, Severus thought, it was a privilege to suffer as long as those artisans and royal families could keep living the life they deserved. 

Cokeworth’s driveways were colourful. It was one of the reasons why Bertie’s bright yellow truck looked so out of place on Spinner’s End. The cars that Severus’ neighbourhood was used to were either dark and rusted copper- or the bright white colour of police cars. 

Christmas hadn’t ended in Cokeworth. Severus knew why, knights were only allowed one day of real celebration, then it was back to defending the kingdom. 

Severus could hear the soft hum of music, and would shut his eyes. Trying to think of what the insides of the houses of Cokeworth looked like. Covered in red ribbon, green pine, gold glitter and plaid pyjamas. It would probably smell like hot cocoa, too. 

It was then that Severus opened his eyes and sighed, deciding then and there exactly what he would wish for his birthday. For his father to never come home, and to one day spend a Christmas and Winter Holiday wearing plaid pyjamas, instead of his knight’s armour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be up later today!


	3. Angels & Spain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter, next one will be up very soon.
> 
> Please let me know what you think! :)

The Winter Holiday had finally come to a close. Severus didn’t remember most of it. Every day had bled into the other, and his birthday- the last day of the holiday- would be something he would actively attempt to forget all together.

It had started early in the morning, and drew late into the night. His mother had tried to make him a cake, and something had gone wrong with the oven. In her distress, Eileen Prince had attempted to use magic which backfired completely. 

She must have not noticed Tobias, who was right behind her. She wasn’t even able to wave her wand before he had snatched it away, and yelled something vile. 

Nevertheless, the day was declared ruined before noon. And Severus had locked himself in his room for the rest of it. 

When the sun had gone down, Severus was finally brave enough to lift his duvet off his face. He liked the dark. For some reason he thought it was quieter this way, Tobias would pass out around the same time as the sun did.  
  
But before Severus could sit up and grab one of the books under his bed, there was a light knock on his door. Eileen had come inside, and shut the door behind her. “I couldn’t get your present.” She admitted, crossing her arms over herself. 

Severus shrugged; he wasn’t expecting anything anyway. Especially because the car hadn’t been fixed yet. His mother sighed again, and sat beside him on his bed. 

“He’s asleep. We can watch something on the television if you’d like.” She offered. Severus shrugged again; it was too late in the day for any program he would really enjoy.

He was about to ask if she could take him to the library, but decided against it. After a long silence, which Severus spent looking at his mother who was staring out his frost covered window, she finally spoke. “ _Muggles_.” 

Severus chuckled at this; it was an inside joke between them. They would often just roll their eyes at each other once Tobias had passed out or went to bed and say just that. Eileen smiled, and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, ruffling his hair. 

“Thought up a birthday wish?” she asked. 

“There isn’t any c-cake.” Severus answered, slightly confused. How in the world could you wish for something on your birthday without a cake and candle? Eileen answered him before he could ask the question out loud. 

She lifted up her pointer finger right in front of Severus’ chin, and to his delight, a flame appeared right at the tip of her finger. It was as if she had lit a match with her nail. 

“Go on.” She insisted, quirking a brow. Severus smiled widely; he already knew what he was going to wish for.

  
The walk to St. Valentine Catholic School for Boys was long, and treacherous. The school bus didn’t go to Spinner’s End, and Severus had forgotten to ask for bus fare from his mother who already left for work, and was obviously not going to ask his father for any. 

By the time Severus had reached the fenced football field, his feet were already numb from the cold, and the long walk. He could hear Tom Delmar calling for him by the school busses that were parked just a yard away, but ignored him. 

Severus was not in the mood to hear about Tom Delmar’s amazing holiday spent in Spain, but was forced to listen to it all anyway when the curly haired boy caught up with him. 

“It wasn’t as warm as I thought it was going to be. Rained a lot.” Tom began. 

Severus sighed in relief, hopefully Tom had an awful time and would just shut up about the whole thing. Severus didn’t necessarily like his best friend. Tom didn’t make fun of his stutter like everyone else did, but had an awful habit of interrupting him whenever he tried to say something. 

That was the worst part. Severus would think of something to say, open his mouth, and would attempt to formulate the witty comeback, or tell the story that was relevant to the conversation, only to be shut down by the impatient Tom Delmar. 

Sometimes, Severus would just stay completely mute, he’d rather be ignored than interrupted. 

_Muggles_. Severus would think to himself.

Tom had gone on and on about his trip to Spain, Severus didn’t care to take note of the special cities and towns Tom’s family would drive to. In fact, by the time they had entered the classroom- Severus had decided he hated the entire nation state of Spain all together.

Tom did that a lot for Severus Snape- ruin innocent things with constant yapping. 

Tom didn’t ask how Severus’ holiday was, mostly because he wasn’t exactly interested but also because every classmate of St. Valentines Catholic School for Boys knew that Severus Snape hated talking about his family. 

An event that had scarred Severus’ reputation at the school had happened two years ago. Tobias had shown up and completely embarrassed him- yelled at him in the main corridor in front of everyone. He didn’t remember what his father had yelled at him about, he had purposely chosen to forget it. 

He however, did remember the looks of pity he had gotten the next day. The looks were worse than the event that actually caused them. It was the same looks that the Barker Boys would give Severus as soon as they saw him walk up to their driveway. 

Still, Severus was glad that most people had a bad memory when it came to horrible events that didn’t involve them. And, he was glad no one had ever asked about it. 

He sat next to Tom in the back of the classroom. There, Severus would look at the back of his peers’ heads and would see their new haircuts they had gotten over the holiday. He looked at the student in front of him, and thought about his mother’s fire trick. 

_I could just burn his hair off._ Severus thought. He had seen it in a movie once, but maybe you needed hairspray or something for it… would it even work? _Is hair even flammable?_

Lunch was even more dreadful than his classes. Severus hated eating in front of people. It’s not like he had any weird food, or he ate funny, it just made him feel anxious. He often ate meals up in his room alone on holiday, mostly because he didn’t want to be around Tobias when he found out the chicken was too dry or his steak was overcooked. 

But today, after the long treacherous walk, he didn’t care if he was going to feel anxious or not. Tom offered him a bountiful lot of stories regarding his holiday (it seemed that he hadn’t gotten all of it out in the morning. 

“Did you do anything?” Tom finally asked, getting the hint that Severus wasn’t actually listening. 

Severus looked up at him, slightly surprised. His mouth was full of sandwich, and he began to chew quickly. Tom stared at him in anticipation. 

“I had m-my… my…” Severus felt his jaw begin to tighten again, and maybe it was the way Tom was staring at him, or the fact that a piece of lettuce was stuck in the back of his throat somewhere, but he was unable to get the words out right away. He could tell Tom was attempting to be patient, how saintly!

“My…m-my…” 

“Your? Your what?” Tom chuckled, waving his hand for Severus to go on. 

Severus stopped trying right away. That was worse than cracking a joke about it. He simply shook his head, forced a smile, and took another bite of his sandwich. 

Tom didn’t seem to mind at all, he continued on about his trip, and about how _fun_ it all was. 

“Have you been on a plane before? My Dad got all of us business class tickets from work.” Tom said.

Severus shook his head. He hadn't been on a plane before. _I won’t need planes_. Severus thought. _I’ll just fly on my broom. Much faster, anyways._

His mother had told him about how fun flying on a broom was. She hadn’t done it in ages, but (like everything about the Wizarding World) she missed it dearly.

Severus tuned out Tom’s voice, and looked at the stained-glass windows which depicted angels and saints. He wondered if angels were actually real or not. _Maybe ‘angels’ are just dementors that some muggle saw once._

He chuckled to himself about this, and decided he would ask his mother about it when he got home. He could already guess what her reply would be- _probably! They know what muggles know: absolutely nothing!_

But when Severus did get home, he didn’t get the chance to ask. Tobias had beaten him there, and therefore Severus was therefore banished to his room. He could have stayed downstairs in the living room, and sit beside his mother while Tobias flipped through the channels. Eileen Prince desperately wanted his company.

But Severus didn’t want to risk being yelled at. He hated how he wasn’t brave enough to walk up and sit beside her. But Eileen had made it impossible for him to do so. She was sitting as far away from Tobias as she could, which meant Severus would have to sit next to him- and that was too much of an obstacle in of itself. 

“Are you hungry?” Eileen had called when he was halfway up the stairs. Severus cringed; he could hear the desperation in her voice. She didn’t want to be alone with him. No one wanted to be alone with Tobias Snape. 

“N-No.” He answered, for once, truthfully.

By the time he shut his bedroom door behind him, he had dashed Eileen’s hopes completely. 

_You're a coward_. Severus thought to himself as he took off his backpack. He sighed, and got back into his bed, trying to take advantage of the calm before the storm- it was still quiet, and he wanted to go to sleep before Tobias would begin to yell, and make it impossible to do so. 

_She’s the coward_. He thought. _She could just light his hair on fire_. Severus buried his face in his pillow. _Is hair even flammable?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> note: hair is in fact flammable, so be careful!


	4. Frostbite & French Annotations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter is short, it's set up for the next one which will be much longer. I hope you are enjoying the story! :)

He had watched the snow melt with anticipation from his bedroom window, up on the weeping willow tree, and through the many colours in the stained-glass windows at school. The end of the Winter season meant many things for Severus Snape.

The first, was that it gave him the freedom to walk longer distances _without_ getting frostbite. He had gotten it before, and his mother had scolded him for it, “Remind me to buy you proper gloves!”

Although, Severus would never remind her about it. He thought it was silly of her, they _both_ knew that would only lead to an argument with Tobias, who controlled all the money that went in and out of that house. And avoiding an argument with Tobias, _especially_ about money, would be more painful than the frostbite.

Severus would walk to school on the weekends, and climb over the fence, hoping that the school caretaker had forgotten to collect the footballs from the field. He wasn’t good at the sport, he hadn’t the shoes for it. He would lay down on his coat, and use magic to make the football (if the janitor had caretaker) hover over his hands.

Severus had worried at first that he might be caught by a muggle who decided to take a closer look. But he quickly came to realize he wasn’t important enough to be closely looked at anyway.

The second thing that changed, was that the river that the weeping willow had overlooked was no longer covered in ice. His tower had turned back into a lighthouse. Severus had woken up every morning, keen to read in the shade, only to feel the crippling terror of his library books that lay dormant under his bed.

 _It’s well past five quid now._ He thought. When Severus would remember, he would rub his temples and sigh. _I’ll go tomorrow!_ He promised himself. And as Severus went to bed, he would be hit with the realities of his overdue books again, and curse himself for breaking his own promises.

He once read that, “a man without his word is nothing.”

He snorted at this. _A muggle man, maybe._

And so, Severus had to rely on the books that Eileen had in her library. Most of them were in French, and most of the ones that weren’t- were too academic, too heavy to carry, and too boring to even try and understand. So, Severus opted for the collection of famous short stories.

Most of them were horror, which Severus would only read if it was really sunny out. He had skipped the ones about romance, because he had noticed his mother write in the margins of those pages. He had tried to figure out what she had written down, but she wrote in French.

Therefore, deeming them private.

He wondered why she had only had enough interest to annotate the ones about love and romance. But this thought was only passing, Severus didn’t like lingering on questions he knew were too sad to answer.

When Severus became too anxious reading the stories of murder, he would shut the hardcover and look over at Cokeworth which was more colourful than ever. The flowers in their gardens were beginning to bloom, and Severus could sometimes smell the scent of them if the wind was in his favour. Spinner’s End seemed to smell exactly the opposite. And when the wind _was_ in Severus’ favour, he would relish every moment of it.

Today, however, was different than the others. Severus noticed something strange. He noticed something that the muggle onlooker wouldn’t have taken note of. He noticed magic. Magic that wasn’t being conducted on his side of the river.


	5. Petals & Investigations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it took a while to post! The next one will be out later tonight!  
> Please let me know what you think!! :) This one is a bit lighter than the others. 
> 
> Also notice how this chapter is titled Petals & Investigations (get it? cause P.I? Private Investigator?? haha!)

Flowers bloomed in every garden within Cokeworth. They did _not_ bloom outside of Cokeworth’s gardens. It was obvious that well-kept flowers, perfectly bloomed, perfectly blossomed, were a luxury that a select number of flowers got to experience. Only behind white picket fences where they give the opportunity to grow freely- never concerned about the weather nor when rain would come.

That is why Severus Snape had furrowed his brows, when he noticed blue flowers perfectly in bloom, across the river, _outside_ of the white picket fences.

One bush from a scattered few, unlike the others. Light blue petals blossomed perfectly and covered the entire greenery- almost like it was about to be swallowed whole. _One_ growing blue speck in the long sea of green.

_Lucky shrub._ Severus had initially thought in a scoff, glancing back down at his short stories, trying to ignore it.

_Too lucky._ He thought again, looking back up across the river.

Severus tilted his head, and slowly shut the hardcover. _Why is it just the one?_

The blue speckled shrub stayed on Severus’ mind all the way home. It bothered him. Very much.

It kept his mind occupied during lunch at school the next day. He listened to Tom’s complaints about homework and not getting on the football team…or was it the chess team? He didn’t remember. Severus hated whenever Tom complained, maybe more than when the boy bragged.

“I just think it’s rigged!” Tom groaned, resting his head in his palm. “I’m just as good as Trevor is.”

Severus looked up at his best friend and nodded slowly, his mind still focussed on that blue speck across the river.

“Do _you_ think I’m as good as he is?” Tom asked.

Severus nodded again. Complete lie. Trevor Hilton was better at everything. Tom, was good at complaining. Maybe Trevor wasn’t as good as Tom in that regard.

“I know! I’m going to have to talk to Sister Brooks about it after school… want to come with me?” Tom asked, taking Severus’ green apple. Severus let him have it, Tom _chewing_ was better than Tom _talking._

“C-Can’t.” Severus replied, shaking his head. Tom rolled his eyes, “What? You’re busy?” He said it like that would be the silliest thing in the world.

Severus nodded, and pulled his bookbag over his shoulder. He knew Tom didn’t actually care what he was busy with, rather, he was annoyed that Severus couldn’t go to Sister Brooks with him. Sister Brooks was quite intimidating.

Severus forgotten how long of a walk it was home, and even though it was bearable weather, his shoes were growing tighter by the day. And the damn car still hadn’t been fixed yet. Tobias began taking the bus to work, which he realized was for the better: he could get drunk on the way to and from work now. How lovely.

His mother had begged Tobias to fix the engine, and he kept putting it off. She couldn’t push too hard, because that meant _he_ would start pushing.

Severus hadn’t complained to his mother. _There’s no point._ He had thought. The grey car with the new oil change and broken engine had begun to rot in their driveway, like a corpse.

As Severus rounded the corner to the Barker House, the blue covered shrub popped into his mind again. And instead of going home, he decided to advance his investigation.

He walked up the small hill, fully expecting to see the speck gone, or just as it was. But widened his eyes in shock when he noticed that there were now _two_ shrubs that were blooming perfect blue flowers. He had let out a sharp gasp, and he would sure he could hear the typewriting of one Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:

_The Blue Bushes of Baskerville._

Severus looked around him, wishing he had a John Watson to explain this all to, and sighed. This would be a mission for him to complete alone.

Severus had never crossed the bridge into Cokeworth. It seemed almost blasphemous. Within every person who grew up in a neighborhood like Spinner’s End, there was a deep seeded feeling in the pit of your chest that would make you feel anxious just _looking_ at those who lived between perfect white picket fences.

And Severus, was victim to this at St. Valentine’s Catholic Church for Boys constantly. But it helped that everyone wore the same uniform, and Catholics seemed to talk about the poor and charity a lot- so he didn’t feel It as much as he did. Especially today.

Severus Snape clung to his bag tightly, and walked over the bridge with his back perfectly straight. Trying everything in his movements to seem like he belonged anywhere than where he he did.

Before Cokeworth, was the thin line of greenery that separated the village from the river. It made sense, Cokeworth needed at least two barriers to ward off the stink of Spinner’s End.

He moved silently, and repeated his plan over and over in his mind:

_I’ll inspect the bushes. Make a note or two, and run back to the lighthouse- No! No, it’s Scotland Yard now…_

As he reached the two shrubs, coming up to his hips, his bag slid off his shoulder and landed at his feet. He crossed his arms, and perched his hands under his chin like Mr. Holmes in the illustrations.

_Two bushes… how strange. Yesterday, there was just the one._ He hummed to himself and circled the bush, placing his hands on his hips.

_Will there be three tomorrow? Is there some pest? No… pests kill flowers, don’t they? Maybe these aren’t even flowers? They could be some… kind of weed…_

He lowered himself to one of the blue petals and sniffed it. _No, definitely flowers. Ah! But what kind?_ He hummed to himself again, shaking his head, and wished he owned a smoking pipe.

His pending investigation was immediately interrupted by the sound of high-pitched shouts and laughs. Severus spun around at once, dropping to the grass, and considered jumping into the river and swimming back across. Would he be found out? _Damn it! I should have thought up an escape plan. Idiot!_

However, Severus realized for a moment the sounds weren’t coming any closer. He furrowed his brows, and took a deep breath. He slowly took a few low steps deeper into the greenery, still lurched under the bushes, and heard the laughs and shouts grow in volume.

He was getting closer...


	6. Red Plaits & Ties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be up very soon! :)

Severus couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed when he rounded the bushes to see a small park. _I didn’t know there was a park here!_ He shook his head; _how would you have known? You’ve never even came across the bridge, Idiot!_

He didn’t emerge from the shrubbery though; he was still keen on keeping his wits _very_ much about him.

The park consisted of a swing set, and little else. There were a few picnic benches, and Severus sighed- imagining what it would be like to have a pretty meal in the middle of summer. Maybe even see a dog that wasn’t foaming at the mouth.

The sounds were coming from two children his age, swinging on the set. Severus raised his brows, two _girls._

Severus turned away from them for a moment, and stood up, leaning behind a tree. For some reason, he felt more terrified than he did just moments ago.

“Bet I can swing higher than you can!” One of the _girls_ laughed.

“Yeah, right!” The other _girl_ chuckled.

Severus quickly pulled his bag over his shoulders, and began tucking his shirt neatly and straightened his school tie. _What are you doing? They’re just girls. Muggle girls!_

He scoffed, realizing his palms were slightly sweaty. Of course, Severus Snape had seen girls before, it wasn’t like they were alien. But he realized rather quickly he never actually spoken to one his age. Which, he could only assume the girls on the swing set were.

_Tom has a sister, doesn’t he? Just go talk to them._

Severus frowned, and felt a sinking feeling in his chest. Remembering his stutter.

It was funny, how often he would actually forget he would have one. But when he did, it would make him feel as if he weighed one million stone. His mind was racing.

_I can’t just go say hello, can I? Why would I even say hello to them?_ He pinched the bridge of his nose. _What would Trevor Hilton do? Wait, no, this has nothing to do with why you’re here in the first place!_

“Lily, your turn to push.” One of them ordered.

He rose his brows, and looked over his shoulder. The girl with red plaits hopped off her swing and begin to push the other.

Severus turned back around, and looked down at himself, and wondered why he had tucked his shirt and straightened his tie in the first place. He took a deep breath. He had made several deductions in a split second:

The first, the one with red hair was named Lily.

The second, was that Lily was a rather nice name.

The third, he had a growing urge to look over his shoulder once more.

“Let’s go down to the river again.” _Lily_ suggested.

Severus widened his eyes, _again? So! She’s been down by the river before. Maybe she’s seen the flowers on the bushes, maybe I could show her! Girls like flowers, right? She probably likes lilies._

“I don’t want to see any of your weird tricks again!” The other girl groaned in annoyance.

Severus furrowed his brows, and once again wished he had owned a smoking pipe.

_Tricks? What tricks?_

“Come on, maybe I can show you how to do it!” Lily suggested.

Just then, Severus heard the creaking iron of the swing stop, and began hearing footsteps. Oh gods! They were coming his way!

The escape plan, although not devised sooner, was quickly formulated in Severus Snape’s mind. He began to run for his life. Screw the mysterious blue shrubbery!

He hadn’t stopped running until he was over the bridge, and only had to stop because his feet were pulsating in pain. The walk and the unscheduled run, in shoes much too small, was too much to bear.

When Severus came home, he was light as a feather. His mind was racing, the mysterious girl’s voice in his head echoing. _Show you how to do it._ What _tricks_ was this girl, Lily, going to show the other? And by the blue bushes no doubt. He shook his head, _since when do real girls exist so close to Spinner’s End?!_

“Severus, you’re home.” Eileen chuckled sweetly from the couch. Severus looked up into the small living room to see steam coming up from Eileen’s mug of tea. And Lily’s voice dimmed as he could hear the voices of dramatic Frenchmen and women coming from the television set.

He smiled at once, thankful Tobias wasn’t home. He took off his shoes, and black coat, hanging it up by the door.

“How was school, then?” His mother asked, her eyes on the television set. Severus furrowed his brows, forgetting he had gone to school at all. All he could think about was the mysterious red-haired girl and the mysterious blue shrubbery.

“F-Fine…” He spoke, hoping his jaw wouldn’t tighten before he could spit out what he had seen. He sat next to his mother, and began tapping his knee with his fingertips, full of energy and questions. Eileen noticed this at once, and slowly turned her head to face the boy.

“Just fine?” She asked, raising a thin brow. Severus felt his cheeks begin to flush, and he shrugged, crossing his arms. Eileen knew that her son definitely didn’t look _guilty._ But he did look rather… strange. His shirt was tucked in, and his tie was straightened which was rather out of the ordinary.

Severus cleared his throat, and looked over at his mother, biting the inside of his cheek. Eileen narrowed her eyes in curiosity, and reached for the remote, turning off the tales of Bordeaux Mansion. Certainly, Severus would tell her a story that was more dramatic and action packed than anything that soap opera could ever provide.

“Why didn’t you introduce yourself?” Eileen asked.

This, was a rather annoying question, and one that Severus thought had a rather obvious answer.

“B-B-Because.” He stammered.

Eileen rolled her eyes, setting her chipped mug down. “And that has stopped you before? You talk to those Barker boys quite often, don’t you?”

Severus felt himself go pale, and wondered for a moment if he was in trouble. How did she know he talked to them? It’s obvious where he got his amazing investigation skills from…

His mother chuckled, noticing how worried he looked. “You should have said something! Muggles shouldn’t intimidate you, Severus.”

Severus sighed and crossed his arms, sinking into the couch. “W-We don’t…know. If they’re m-m-muggles.” He stammered, bringing his hand to his jaw. He hadn’t remembered the last time he talked this much all at once. It had taken him an hour just to finish the rather short story.

Eileen considered this. “She might not even know if she wasn't one herself.”

Severus shook his head; surly the girl would know if she was a muggle or not. Why would the girls’ parents keep it a secret from her?

Eileen could read his thought process as if he was speaking out loud. “The girl could be a muggle-born witch, Severus.” She sighed. “You ought to find out. She must think that she’s strange, and different. And not in a good way.”

“How?” Severus asked.

Eileen looked over at him as if that was an annoying question, one that had an obvious answer. “You _introduce_ yourself. _Talk_ to her.”

He groaned in response, running his hands through his black hair. _That_ was certainly not going to happen. “Think about it. If she is, you’ll have an _awful_ lot of things to talk about…” Eileen offered with a smirk, getting up to pour herself another cup of tea.

Severus rose his brows, and considered _that_ very carefully… He’d have all these answers for her, he could show her moving photos of Hogwarts, ask her what her thoughts were on muggle angels and if they _were_ just dementors. He felt, for the first time, an overwhelming and rather scary feeling of hope.

The feelings of hope however were dashed at once, the sound of the front door causing the cloud of excitement that was present to dim into one of anxiety rather quickly. Severus immediately stood up from the couch, and he could hear Eileen turn the kettle off.

Thankfully, Severus made it up the stairs without a barking order from his father. He quickly walked into his bedroom, and shut the door behind him. As soon as the door had clicked shut, he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He closed his eyes, and listened to the heavy footsteps move across the living room, and heard the sink begin to run. Muffled voices. And then, a click of the remote- football commentary echoing through the house.

Severus had trouble sleeping that night. Not because of the argument that was going on downstairs, he was rather used to that. He had lost his appetite at dinner, which surprised him since he had let Tom eat his apple, and had walked and ran all the way home. He couldn’t think of eating a thing.

All he contemplated about was the girl who was quite possibly a witch. His mind was racing with questions. He was sure the _tricks_ Lily had mentioned, _had_ to have been the flowers blooming in the bushes. She was probably making them do that, mistaking _tricks_ with _magic._

He sighed and lifted his duvet over his face. His excitement and curiosity were now fading into regret, and ran into a streamline of thoughts.

_I should have introduced myself. What if they saw me running away?_

_If? They definitely saw you running away. They probably thought you were trying to rob them. What would you have said anyway? Hi there, I’m S-S-S-Severus? Ridiculous. You are definitely not going to introduce yourself._

_Maybe I could leave a note?_

_Idiot! That’s even worse. A mysterious note stapled to a tree? That’s definitely not going to scare them! Brilliant! That would definitely scare anyone- especially if they do turn out to be just muggles._

_I can’t just leave her alone. That Lily girl… What if she hurts herself…? What if she doesn't even know her tricks are magic?_

Severus lifted the duvet off his face and placed his palms on his cheeks- they were flushed, which only confused him even more.

_Don’t be stupid. Hopefully she’s like Tom and she’ll end up doing all the talking. I’ll give her a book about it, and I’ll be on my way._

_Oh god… the library books!_

_Why did I have to tell Mum about it? I should have just kept it to myself. Wait, no. She’s nothing like Tom. She’s exactly the opposite. Her voice was much nicer…_

_Idiot! It’s not like you’re ever going to hear her voice again, because you are never going to cross that stupid bridge again…_

_But what if you meet her at Hogwarts?_

Severus let out a loud sigh of agony, realizing another multitude of possibilities of their paths crossing again. Would he see her on the Hogwarts Express? In the Dining Hall? Library?

_Alright. Fine. If I see her at Hogwarts, I’ll talk to her. I’ll let someone else explain everything to her. But… why would she ever talk to you? You need a reason to talk to her, right? I hope we both get sorted into Slytherin._

He buried his face into his pillow. _She isn’t a witch. She’s just a muggle. They were probably talking about something else, anyways._

He breathed into his pillow for what seemed like an hour, letting out a hum of despair.

_I bet she’d look nice in green._

This was possibly Severus’ most idiotic and most obvious thought of the night. He concluded that there wouldn’t be any colour that the girl with red plaits would not look good in. And with that conclusion solidified, he let his eyelids fall. The back of them coated with the face of a girl who may, or may not, be a witch.


	7. Names & Introductions

Severus’ mind often wandered in his classes. But today, he wasn’t even aware of his surroundings. The streamline of questions about the girl he had seen across the river were playing over and over in his mind, it was interesting at first, but by lunch he was growing more annoyed with his own thoughts than with whatever Tom seemed to be rambling on and on about.

He tried thinking about other things, things that were more grounded in reality. He knew that whatever possibility he had of going over that bridge again would require confidence. And, for Severus, that would be unachievable until he had learned to get rid of his stutter.

And that meant practice. Practice in conversation. Conversation that didn’t end with the other person laughing at him, or sighing in impatience.

Sister Brooks had given Eileen plenty of speech therapists’ telephone numbers. “You ought to make an appointment. The sooner he starts, the easier it’ll be for him to get rid of it.” Brooks had said. Severus remembered his mother ringing up every single number on the stack of cards the nun had given her. All of them demanded a consultation fee, which of course was out of the question.

“Just talk to me! I’ll help you.” She had said when her resources were exhausted. Severus remembered just shaking his head, and refusing help. She was too busy and tired anyway. Eileen had never joked about it, but Severus couldn’t bear to see how _sad_ she would get when he would stutter on a certain letter for too long. It made him feel guilty, which made Eileen feel guilty, which overall made for an unpleasant and unproductive experience.

Severus sighed, looking back out the stained-glass windows in the lunch room. He decided that he’d wait for the summer, where he could spend every waking moment under the weeping willow tree, and just fix it for himself. Besides, who better to talk to then himself?

_I’ll be able to talk right as soon as September comes. Then, I’ll cross the bridge again. And then, I’ll introduce myself. Properly._

He promised himself this. No, he _swore_ it. He often read that first impressions were important, and he wasn’t going to allow the mysterious girl to think of him as what he actually was. Severus cringed, hoping that Lily hadn’t seen him running away. And, if she had, he hoped that she would have forgotten about it by the time he would fix his speech. But Severus’ plan, although well thought out and well-intentioned, was quickly uprooted when he went to the weeping willow tree after school.

Safety perched in the high branches of his lighthouse, Severus had his nose deep in homework, attempting with all efforts to focus on Genesis. He had told his mother before how silly it was that he had to go to a religious muggle school, when clearly, they were wrong about everything. “It’s in a good neighbourhood.” Eileen had argued. Severus had scoffed at this, _any_ neighbourhood that wasn’t Spinner’s End was considered a good neighbourhood. He rolled his eyes, looking back at his bible perched on his knee.

“How in the world did you get up there?”

Severus furrowed his brows, where in the world did that voice come from? He slowly looked up at the clouds. _There’s no way…_

“It’s high up, you could fall.” 

Severus quickly realized that the strange voice was not coming from the heavens, but down below. And he realized, after the first initial surprise that he had recognized the voice. And it certainly was one he wasn’t planning on hearing until the summer was long over. In a split second, he quickly looked down through the branches, and widened his eyes. There, a few feet below, _Lily_ stood looking up at him with her arms crossed.

What felt like a shockwave of terror hit Severus at once, he immediately jerked in surprise and in the moment of surprise, he had lost his balance, and fallen from the branch, proving the girl right. The landing wasn’t graceful, and the air was now littered with his school papers.

“Are you okay?” Lily gasped. Severus wasn’t exactly sure. It hurt, but he wasn’t going to just start crying in front of her. He quickly rose to his feet, embarrassed, and caught off guard. He looked up at her, and felt frozen in space. Her eyes were a bright and deep green, and possibly most terrifying of all, they were now looking into his- flooded with concern, but trickled with amusement.

Severus didn’t know how long he had stood frozen in silence, staring at her. He was sure that this was just a daydream, maybe a nightmare- but that was possibly too soon to tell.

_Say something. Answer her!_

Severus opened his mouth, and as expected, no words were able to come out. His lips twitched, but his jaw was tight, and he felt as if he had no air in his lungs. His heart was pounding, his stomach felt sick, and he wanted the soil under him to swallow him whole.

Lily had crossed her arms again, and seemed, to Severus’ surprise, ready to _wait_ for an answer. He opened his mouth again, and decided to close his eyes, it helped when he didn’t see people staring at him with anticipation.

“Y-Yes.” He finally got out. He opened his eyes, nerves darting over his skin like pine needles. Lily smiled, satisfied with the answer, and began collecting the papers that were now scattered over the grass. Severus stared at her in shock, his mind racing.

_What is she doing here? She isn’t supposed to be on this side of the river, she’s supposed to be waiting on that side! I’m the one who was supposed to introduce myself, stupid girl! And great, you just fell right in front of her, idiot! Stammering, clumsy, idiot!_

Lily stacked the papers, and handed it to him. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

Severus snatched the papers from her hand, his face turning bright red. “Y-You d-d-didn’t…scare m-m-m…” He shut his eyes, and turned away, grabbing his bag that was by the stump and stuffed his papers inside of it.

_Okay, get your bag, run away. No, better yet, jump into the river, and drown._

“Hey, where are you going?” She asked, crossing her arms again.

_Is she mad at me? Oh Merlin, don’t look at her, she isn’t real. Just go home. What is she doing here? She doesn’t belong here. What is she doing just talking to you? How did she find you? Don’t look at her, just run away._

Severus sighed in agony, his wrist was sore from the fall, and although he didn’t want to, he looked back at the girl who was staring right at him. His jaw felt like it was going to fall off, and he was sure he was going to be sick.

“H-H-Home.”

Lily smiled, and Severus was sure that it was a dream, which made him feel less nervous. _I probably fell asleep in Sister Brooks’ class. She’s so boring._

“You live around here?” Lily asked, turning her head to look up the street, noticing the disgusting ruins. Severus wanted nothing more than to block her view, a feeling of shame crippling his chest.

“N-N-No.” Severus lied. _I can't let her think I live in a place like this!_ Lily giggled, and Severus took a step back. _She’s laughing at you. She thinks you’re a crime ridden, clumsy, stuttering rat._

But Lily noticed right away that he looked worried, and shook her head. “Well, I guess you live in this tree then?” She concluded with a sigh.

Severus furrowed his brows, _what a stupid assumption. Obviously, I don’t live up in a tree._

“I’m joking around!” Lily chuckled. Severus nodded slowly, and threw his bag over his shoulder, ready to sprint back home, and lock himself in his bedroom until he would receive his letter. Lily sighed, and glanced over the river, and then back at the boy rocked with fear in front of her. “Tuny and I saw you running on the bridge yesterday.” Severus shut his eyes, and began thinking of how cold the water in the river will feel when he jumps into it. He hoped for a moment a branch above him would fall on top of him.

_Obviously, she saw you running away! Idiot! Just run away again now, it won’t be like she’s not used to seeing it!_

“Why were you spying on us?”

_Spying on her?_

“I w-w-wasn’t!” Severus hissed, surprised of how angry he sounded.

“What’s your name?” Lily demanded.

_What is this interrogation? She’s a muggle, she doesn’t need to know anything, because she already knows everything that she’ll ever know- nothing! Just walk away._

Severus scoffed and turned, to his shock, she grabbed his arm, and he froze in his tracks. “Hey! Answer me!”

He slowly turned, looking back at the girl who looked more curious than anything. She was still holding onto his arm, and Severus didn’t know why- was she going to throw him in the river? He hoped she would. “N-not…y-yet.” He scoffed.

_She’s ruining everything! This wasn’t how it was supposed to go! What would Mum do? What would Trevor Hilton do? What would Edgar Barker do?_ Lily tilted her head, puzzled by the rather odd response, and let go of his arm. “Not yet? How come?” She asked.

_She’s asking so many questions…of course she is! You must be the ugliest and scariest thing her Cokeworth eyes have ever seen. You live in a tree, idiot! How come? Because I haven’t gotten over this stupid stutter yet, stupid girl._

Severus sighed, and suddenly had an urge to cry. His plan was ruined! But of course, he didn’t, he was still a knight. Knights don't just cry, do they? He scoffed and shrugged, shutting his eyes. “I c-can’t… s-s-speak.” He stammered horribly.

Lily looked as if she had heard the silliest thing in the world. “Well…I understand you just fine. What’s the big deal? What’s your name?” Severus slowly opened his eyes, the sound of spring leaves and running water flooding his ears, along with the kindest words he had ever heard. Severus realized, in the few moments he had with this girl from Cokeworth who may or not be a muggle, that she hadn’t interrupted him once- and hadn’t laughed at his speech at all. Or made a nasty joke about it!

Lily furrowed her brows, confused as to why he was staring at her as if she was some alien and finally had enough of it. She offered her hand, “I’m Lily Evans.”

Severus felt drunk. This must be how the orange labeled bottles Tobias drank felt like. It felt quite nice. He looked down at her freckled hand, and let her shake his hand. “S-Severus S-Snape.”

“Severus.” Lily repeated with a smile, finally satisfied she had gotten some sort of answer from him. Severus smiled too, realizing for the first time how beautiful his name sounded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this isn't canonically how they met, and I hope you don't mind that I changed it a bit! I promise the story will still include the tension with Petunia, because that's really important to the story! Of course, Lily did see Severus running away, and I think she would have been the kind of person to go investigate too! They kind of spied on each other, but of course Lily was brave enough to actually introduce herself. 
> 
> Anyways, next chapter will be coming very soon! I really appreciate your comments, they really make my day! Also, I hope you don't mind smaller more frequent chapters being updated, I know that I kind of prefer it because I know I can binge or save them for later, but let me know if you'd prefer really long chapters coming out maybe once a week?


	8. Trolls & Peanut Butter

Severus had forgotten how badly his wrist hurt, and his homework that was due in the morning the next day. He didn’t care. His mind was focussed elsewhere. He was clinging onto every syllable, of every story, and joke, that his new friend Lily Evans had graciously granted him. He let her take the seat by the tree, letting her to be the one to lean up on it.

He hadn’t told her about the Wizarding World, or Hogwarts, or what exactly brought him to cross the bridge. He had said he was just bored, and wanted to skip stones. Which was of course a lie, Severus didn’t know exactly _why_ he didn’t tell Lily all about it yet. She hadn’t told him about her tricks just yet, and he decided it would be better to let her bring the whole thing up. Besides, each time she had finished a sentence, Severus was absolutely positive she was a witch- and definitely not a muggle.

_Muggles aren’t this nice._

Lily had told him that her parents worked in advertising, and helped make all the commercials that were on television. Severus found this ridiculously interesting. Lily said that she hated commercials, and Severus had agreed without a second thought. Which wasn’t a lie, no one liked commercials.

“Sometimes we get baskets sent to the house with the products they helped sell.” Lily said, picking a piece of bark off the tree casually.

Severus nodded attentively. “L-Like…w-what?” He asked.

Lily shrugged, “mostly it’s just cleaning stuff. My Mum just ends up giving them to our neighbours. But once we got around ten jars of peanut butter.” Severus furrowed his brows, he didn’t like peanut butter, but it looked like Lily was excited about it so he decided that the peanut butter he had tried must have gone bad.

“Petunia hates peanut butter.” Lily said, shaking her head. “She can smell it from a yard away like a dog.”

Severus laughed, “d-don’t…d-don’t dogs l-like…p-p…” He shut his eyes, feeling his jaw begin to tighten again but kept persisting through it. Lily didn’t seem to mind it was taking him so long to spit the words out. “P-peanut b-butter?” He wheezed out, opening his eyes again.

Lily laughed and shook her head, “you’re right!”

Severus smiled brightly, and although it was getting cold out, he didn’t feel cold at all. Lily smiled back and glanced over the river again, “I should start heading home,” she yawned. Severus’ expression dropped immediately and he felt a rock form in his chest. He quickly added _nighttime_ to his many list of things he hated.

“I-I-I…I can…walk y-you…a bit.” He suggested, quickly getting to his feet. Lily smiled and to his delight, agreed. He walked alongside his new friend, and couldn’t stop glancing over at her every third step they took over the bridge. He wondered what he would do if a troll came out from under them, he would probably unsheathe a sword and tell her to run away, slaying it easily. He smiled to himself, and secretly wished there _was_ a troll under the bridge.

“Do you have school tomorrow?” She asked, her hands clasped behind her. Severus nodded his head, and wondered for a moment why she would ask something like that. Tomorrow was a school day. “D-Do you?” He asked. Lily shook her head, “I’m homeschooled. We have a tutor that comes to our house at noon every weekday.”

Severus nodded his head, thinking of how nice it must be to sleep in, and to have school come to you. He felt a spark of excitement, and opened his mouth to tell her about Hogwarts again, but stopped- _no, not now._ “What’s…y-your f-f-favourite…” He sighed, and kept struggling through his lips. “S-subject?” he finally got out.

Lily smiled and looked up at him, “History.”

He smiled, and nodded his head. History. Muggle history? Certainly, it wasn’t _that_ interesting. But he was happy she didn’t say Mathematics. He wasn’t that good at arithmetic. He was pretty decent at History though, although he had to rely on books and his teachers more than the other students did. Eileen knew nothing about muggle history.

Severus stopped walking once the bridge had ended, he could see the street lamps over the trees in Cokeworth begin to light up like fireflies, and glanced behind him at the dark neighbourhood that awaited him. “Are you going to take the bus? My Mum could drive you home, if you want.” Lily suggested.

Severus shook his head, “I…c-can…walk.”

Lily furrowed her eyebrows and smirked, “I thought you said you didn’t live there.” Severus immediately felt his heart sink, and back felt as if it was being shot with lightening. He had just been caught in his first lie, _that’s not a good first impression at all. Idiot! Now she thinks you’re a liar!_

Lily laughed and rolled her eyes, “Well…it was nice meeting you.”

Severus widened his eyes- _oh no, wait… quick! Make something up!_

“D-Do you…like…p-p-playing c-cards?” Severus blurted awkwardly. Lily considered the foolish question. Everyone liked playing cards.

“Sure, I do.” She admitted, a smile playing at her lips. Severus nodded slowly, and looked back over the bridge, _ask her! Just ask her!_

“I can show you this really fun game my cousin taught us last summer, tomorrow. Whenever you’re done school.” Lily said, as if reading his mind. 

Severus felt his stomach fill with helium, he felt like he was going to float away and nodded his head eagerly. Lily smiled and checked her watch that was buckled to her left wrist, setting what looked like an alarm.

“Let’s see… I can squeeze you in at four o’clock.” She joked.

He laughed and nodded his head again, suddenly feeling the urge to cry again, it was probably his wrist- it was really beginning to pulse in pain. But he didn’t care. He was going to see the girl, who definitely wasn’t a muggle, again tomorrow. “Bye.” She waved, stepping off the bridge’s steps. Severus shot out his hand and waved back, only to wince, realizing that was his sore one, which made Lily giggle.

Severus’ walk home couldn’t have been swifter and more painless. He felt like he was floating, and his cheeks hurt from smiling. He realized that Lily Evans, the girl who lived across the river, now knew more about him that the Barker Boys, Sister Brooks, and Tom put together.

She had let him tell her all about his classes, how he hated bible study and thought it completely pointless (although he didn’t disclose the main reason, he thought it was all rubbish). He told her all about his favourite books he would read over and over, and how he must have read The Hobbit over fifty times. She hadn’t read it before, and Severus decided he would borrow the hardcover edition the next time he would go to the library for her…

_Damn it! My library books!_

He groaned in annoyance, and let himself feel angry for a moment. How was he going to get her a copy of it now? A man’s word is everything! He decided he would look on the shelves at St. Valentines- it was written by Tolkien who was Catholic- surely, they would have a copy of it, right? Severus shook his head, he decided he would ask for his own personal copy as a late birthday present.

_I’ll annotate it and everything!_

Severus was excited about his new plan for the book, and was thinking about certain passages he would annotate off the top of his mind as he opened his front door. His excitement however, would immediately disintegrate.

The house was dark, but the living room was cascaded in a blue light coming from the television. Severus fully expected to see his mother on the couch, probably dozed off. But froze when he saw Tobias, leaning back on the couch with his legs crossed, three empty bottles scattered over the table.

He looked furious.

“Where the hell have you been?” He said slowly, his voice deep and his words slightly slurred. Severus shut the door behind him at once, and felt his heart begin to race. He wanted to call out for his mother, but she was probably asleep.

He opened his mouth to speak but his father narrowed his eyes, the icy stare shooting a needle into Severus’ chest. It felt like looking into the eyes of a dragon. “Spit. It. Out.”

Severus shut his eyes, suddenly feeling like there was no air to breathe at all. He could hear Tobias get up from the couch, and his heavy steps coming towards him, he dared not to open his eyes at all. _Up the street. Up. The. Street._

“U-Up…” Severus began to stammer, feeling his eyes begin to flood as he could smell the disgusting stench of sweat and beer trickling into his nose.

Tobias was obviously not satisfied with the answer, and grabbed Severus’ collar. He weighed nothing to the broad tall man, especially tonight where Severus' stomach was full of butterflies. “Asleep? Open your damn eyes!” He shouted harshly. Severus opened his eyes at once, seeing but a blurry face in front of him.

“Alright, that’s enough!” A voice came from the stairs. Severus shut his eyes again, feeling a wave of relief hit him at once. Tobias sneered and let him go, turning around to face Eileen who happened to have a new bruise on her cheekbone, coming to the rescue.

“Go to bed.” She said in a harsh voice to Severus, snapping at the stairs. She couldn’t have said it fast enough, Severus quickly began to run up the steps, breathing out through his nose- trying to get the stinging of alcohol out of it. 

“You’re supposed to be waiting upstairs.” He heard Tobias sneer. Severus didn’t want to hear the rest of it, he shut his bedroom door behind him, and quickly brought his chair up to the doorknob, his heart still racing. This was the latest he’d ever been out. _They were worried about me, that’s all._ He assured himself.

He winced again, looking down at his wrist which now was slightly swollen. He sighed and slowly sat on the edge of his bed. He’ll put ice on it in the morning. He glanced up to his window, and sighed, wishing it was Winter so he could just grab some snow from outside. But that thought quickly faded away once he remembered how horrible Winter actually was in the Snape household. And, another reason why Severus Snape would come to love Spring, would be that he had just spent all evening having a proper conversation. A _long_ and _beautiful_ conversation.

He smiled and shut his eyes for sleep, suddenly having a deep craving for peanut butter.


	9. Captains & Cakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took longer than usual! I hope you enjoy!! <3

Severus couldn’t wait for the final bell to ring. He even considered leaving out the back gates near the field during the morning prayers. But alas, the courage was simply not there, and he had to endure the longest school day he had ever experienced.

It was made especially worse when Tom had found out Trevor Hilton had been made captain of the rugby team. Or no, was it the chess team? Severus knew it was too late to ask, and asking would only make Tom more furious than he already was. Nevertheless, Severus decided he should cheer up his friend, he was in a particularly good mood after all.

“D-Doesn’t d-deserve it.” Severus said, shaking his head in fake disapproval. Tom had raised his brows, possibly surprised that Severus was taking his side. Severus and Tom both knew it was a lie, Trevor Hilton very much deserved leading…whatever sport or club it was.

“What was that?” A stern voice full of well-deserved cockiness spoke out right behind him. Severus saw Tom’s face go pale, and felt his own heart drop to his stomach. The boy turned around, to see Trevor Hilton standing right behind him with his arms crossed and eyes glaring.

Severus opened his mouth to say something, but Trevor interrupted him immediately. “If you wanted to be captain, you should have tried out yourself, S-S-Severus.”

Severus cringed, and felt a growing number of eyes turning to face him in the cafeteria. Of course, Trevor had a point. Severus didn’t even try out for whatever sport Trevor was now captain of. Severus hoped for a moment Tom would say something, but he could hear his blabbering friend that often found it impossible to stay silent, at a loss for words.

Trevor tilted his head, his large brown eyes narrowing, and for a moment Severus felt as if the boy standing in front of him was going to ask if he wanted to take whatever this exchange was ‘outside’. He had heard that phrase a lot in movies, but he certainly was never in a situation where he would have to ‘step outside’ to handle something. And of course, he didn’t _want_ to fight Trevor Hilton. It’s not like Trevor had said anything mean to him, or even acknowledged him. Except now.

“S-Sorry.” Severus stammered, feeling his ears turn a shade of pink. Trevor raised a confident brow and gave a knowing nod; casting his divine mercy upon the stammering boy, and walked back to his own table full of his friends, who seemed proud with his turn-the-other-cheek morality. Severus wanted to scoff, imagining one of the boys at the table pulling out a white handkerchief and waving it in the air yelling, “ _such patience, our divine leader has! All heil Trevor Hilton! King of the World!_ ”

Severus turned back around to Tom, full of embarrassment. Tom was avoiding his gaze, and was rather interested in the fabric on his sleeve, picking the lint off of his sweater. “Th-Thanks…” Severus stammered out sarcastically, wishing he had the time to properly scold his supposed ‘best friend’.

Tom looked up at him with a look that could only be described as ‘who? me?’

Severus spent the rest of the lunch hour looking up at the old clock, he knew people were still looking at him, probably making comments about how Severus Snape should be the _last_ person to make judgements on what a boy like Trevor Hilton deserved. He thought for a moment what his new friend, would have said to Trevor of she was sitting at his table:

_You heard him! You don’t deserve it, Trevor, you don’t deserve anything. In fact, you should take your entire team of cultists and jump into a volcano!_

Severus sighed, the pleasant thought bringing him out of his embarrassment for a moment. Their one conversation had stayed with Severus every step on his walk to school. There was a big balloon inside his chest, full of potential. He had made a physical list during the afternoon prayers about the things he would ask her about, and even tried thinking of funny jokes or stories to tell her. When Sister Brooks had asked him what in the world he was writing down, he had said he was writing out the things he was thankful for. Sister Brooks didn’t buy it at all, she knew that Severus Snape had very little to be thankful for, but she didn’t press the issue.

As Severus walked back to Spinners End, he tried his best to make every green streetlight on the way, and had even crossed when they were red if no cars were around. He didn’t want to be late. He knew that Lily wouldn’t be, she had a watch- and people with watches were never late. Severus wished he owned one, maybe a fancy pocket watch with a chain like those French elites would wear on his mother’s show.

Severus was so excited he almost forgot to say hello to Edgar and Jack Barker who were laying on their lawn, a board-game and bottles of pop sprawled around them. “Oi!” Edgar caught Severus’ attention. “You’re in a rush.” Edgar chuckled. Severus turned and furrowed his brows, quite sick of voices coming up, below, and above him.

“Hello.” Severus greeted in an impatient sigh. His legs itched for him to keep walking, but he didn’t want to grab too much attention from the Barker Boys. They were much more interesting and cooler than he was, and he worried they would follow him to the willow tree and embarrass him in front of his new friend.

Edgar and Jack had long hair that came down to their shoulders, and both of them were growing their beards out (which didn’t exist). They both wore denim, and Edgar was wearing a red bandana around his neck. Severus thought it made him look like some American cowboy, but he didn’t dare say that out loud.

“How was school, then? Tell us everything.” Jack said in a high voice, mimicking an interested mother. Severus glanced at the board-game they were playing, wondering what board games Lily liked.

“Wanna play?” Edgar asked, opening another bottle of Fanta. “Jack’s a bloody cheat.” Edgar added, taking a large sip.

Severus shook his head, if this had been any other day, he would have eagerly agreed. Jack scoffed at this and picked up the mismatching set of dice from the board, tossing one at Edgar. “Here,” Edgar laughed, taking another pop from the lot, handing it up to Severus.

Severus took it slowly, but handed it back. He didn’t want to show up with just _one._ It would be odd for him to just be drinking one in front of her. Edgar seemed shocked by this, but took the cold bottle back. “You got a cavity or something?” he asked.

“N-No. Just…d-don’t w-want one.” He lied.

Jack was busy looking for the lost die he had thrown at his brother, and Edgar gave Severus a very odd look. Severus waved goodbye, and turned back around on his path, moving more quickly than ever. But before he turned the corner on the last house on the end of the street, he had to stop. He had a rather dark thought that crossed his mind.

_What if she forgot?_

He considered this for a moment. It wouldn’t be the first time Severus was forgotten. Tom had done it loads of times, and each time felt worse than the last. Severus wasn’t even brave enough to confront him about it, and he knew he wouldn’t have the bravery at all to confront Lily Evans about it if she would ever do such a thing. In fact, Severus couldn’t imagine _anyone_ scolding someone who was so nice.

When he turned the corner, a smile crossed his lips immediately. He spotted a pink book-bag, and felt as though he had found a treasure.

As he made it up the small hill, he saw the girl leaning against the tree, a large book perched on her lap, and coloured pencils scattered around her. Lily’s hair was tied up neatly on top of her head, her eyes focussed on her drawing. She must have not even noticed he was there. Severus, for a moment, wanted to keep it that way. He didn’t want to disturb her, and he worried he would say something and surprise her, making her mess up.

But he couldn’t contain himself, and blurted out a stammered greeting. “H-Hi!” He said, almost in a laugh, coming up in front of her. Lily looked up from her book and smiled, watching Severus take off his coat and book-bag, throwing it on the grass and sitting criss-crossed in front of her. “You’re late.” She sighed, continuing her artwork.

Severus felt as if a lightning bolt struck him in the skull. Had he ever felt so keen to jump into the river and let the waves swallow him whole? He blushed and opened his mouth, ready to spew excuses, only for Lily to burst out laughing. “I’m just joking, you’re…right on time!” She said after checking her watch.

He felt as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders and clasped his hands under his chin, leaning forward to look at what she was drawing. “It’s not that good, I’m not finished.” Lily admitted, turning her sketchbook over and handing it to him. Severus thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Actually...maybe the second.

It was a drawing of the landscape, and there had been so many colours used it felt like looking into a kaleidoscope. He had drawn and coloured before, but her pencils seemed to be made of magic, everything looked so bright and saturated. Severus always had to colour in lightly, because he always seemed to lose his sharpener. Once, he used a knife in the kitchen to sharpen his pencil which made him feel like a primitive chimp.

Lily of course, being from the _other_ side of the river, was brave enough to colour in harshly. And since there were so many shades of each colour to choose from, Severus knew she wouldn’t even _need_ a sharpener.

Severus, lost in the brushstrokes, realized he hadn’t yet commented on how beautiful it was out loud, and quickly opened his mouth to let the compliments come roaring out as if being locked behind a dam. “B-B-Brilliant! Y-You’re…It’s…s-so good!”

Lily seemed satisfied with his critique and began opening up her bag. “Do you like to draw? Tuny’s really good at it. My parents have all her drawings up on our fridge. I don’t really show them my drawings, though.” Lily explained as she took out a yellow lunchbox.

“W-Why?” Severus asked. He thought this was strange. Why would Lily show _him_ her drawings, and not her parents? He dismissed the question at once, realizing he probably wouldn’t show Tobias any of _his_ drawings either. But then he was worried, and thought about what Lily’s parent’s might be like. Lily had only mentioned what they did for work, but Tobias had a job, and he was the nastiest person Severus knew. Certainly, they weren’t that bad, were they? Severus dismissed his worries, remembering that Lily lived on _that_ side of the river, and no one in Cokeworth could ever be that nasty.

Lily simply shrugged, and offered Severus a piece of carrot cake. “Because Petunia is the one who likes to draw.” Severus tilted his head slightly, wanting to scoff and tell her just because her sister was good at something, that it didn’t mean _she_ couldn’t pursue it as well. But he knew that would be much too serious, and much too personal of a thing to say, so instead he accepted the orange cake.

As they ate, Severus tried his best to savour each bite. He could tell it wasn’t bought from the supermarket. There was a decent amount of vanilla in it, and the cakes at the supermarket always tasted like sugary-bread. “I asked my Mum about St. Valentines, she said it was a Boys’ School.” Lily said, taking out a canteen. Severus nodded, and held in a groan of annoyance- remembering the embarrassing encounter with Trevor Hilton.

“Do you like it?” Lily asked, pouring out orange juice into two dixie cups. Severus shook his head, “It’s…awful.” He sighed, accepting the beverage. He raised his cup, and garnered up the strength to tell a joke.

“O-Orange j-juice, orange…cake… orange you g-glad you d-don’t have to…g-go to St. V-Valentines?”

Lily had waited until the last syllable was out to laugh, and Severus felt a sugar high at once. What in the world was in this cake?

He had told Lily all about Tom Delmar, and Trevor Hilton, and the other insignificant and annoying people who went to St. Valentines. And all of this, Lily told him, made her feel slightly better about being homeschooled. When Severus had asked why she didn’t go to one, Lily had said that she _used_ to go to Cokeworth Primary Academy but left after her second year. She didn’t say why, Severus had a feeling like she didn’t want to talk about it, so he didn’t ask about it.

Petunia Evans, Severus learned, was quite popular at Cokeworth Academy. Lily said that they used to have a big friend group, but once Lily started being homeschooled- they all stopped talking to her or dropping in to say hello like they promised they would.

And when they did come over, they would lock themselves in Petunia’s room, forgetting to ask Lily to join. Lily didn’t seem to mind though, she said that her sister always found time to play with her. Severus felt as if this was another example of why Lily Evans might be a witch; only a muggle would be so stupid as to not want to hang out with Lily Evans. He wanted to ask about the blue shrubbery by the river, but of course decided against it.

When they had finished their drinks, Lily took out the playing cards. Although, she didn’t stop shuffling them, she was too wrapped into the conversation. Severus was telling her all about the Barker Boys (some details being withdrawn; Severus didn’t want to make them out to be _too_ interesting). He told her about the parties they would have, and how his mother would curse in French when their music was too loud.

“What kind of music do they play?” Lily asked. Severus shrugged, he was usually in his bedroom half asleep by the time their parties began, so it all was quite muffled. Severus also had to explain his stutter to her, telling her how he couldn’t help it, and how he had it for as long as he could remember. He said that it would get worse when he felt nervous, and how his jaw would feel like it was sewn shut at times.

Lily had said she didn’t notice it at all, which Severus knew was a lie, but felt rather inclined to believe her. “I wish I went to your school.” Lily had sighed, putting the (very much shuffled) cards in front of him for Severus to deal. Severus imagined how silly Lily would look in their uniform, but also how her red wavy hair would be a nice break from all the ones he was forced to stare at during class. Severus was going to say something about how they might actually be going to the same school very soon, but again, forced the comment aside.

They had in their hands the necessary cards to play a game of Go Fish, but neither of them began to actually play it. Lily had joked about seeing him run off, which Severus felt embarrassed about. He had explained to her before that he was just looking to skip rocks, but that didn’t’ necessarily explain the part of him running off.

So, he told her that he _wasn’t_ running away, but was instead, attacked by a swarm of wasps (which he said were larger than normal wasps), and he was simply diverting them and not actually running away from them. This complex lie seemed ludicrous to Lily at first, but Severus had taken out his bible and swore on it, so she believed him.

When the sun had begun to go down, Severus had helped Lily put all her pencils back in her case, and even took her hand to pull her up from the grass. He had mistakenly used the wrist that was still swore, but he didn’t care.

“Same time tomorrow, then?” Lily asked. Severus nodded, thinking that was a ridiculous question. She also asked him if he wanted to walk her to the end of the bridge again, which Severus _again_ thought was a ridiculous question. “We could go to the park tomorrow on my side, if you want.” Lily had offered. Severus had said he would be indifferent to it, and that she could decide where they would go tomorrow.

“Bye!” Lily called, smiling brightly. Severus’ smile wasn’t as bright. He realized rather quickly that her saying goodbye would be the worst sound in the world. 

Severus knew from last night’s horrible encounter that he would have to hurry back home and not take his merry time. He hadn’t known it, but his walk back to his house last night had taken him much longer than what was necessary-his mind had been so preoccupied he had gone up and down several streets before reaching the front door.

To his luck, Tobias wasn’t home, and Eileen was perched on the couch- eyes glued to the television set, her mug steaming. Severus sat down next to her, and took out a notebook from his book-bag, and began making a list of all the things he would ask Lily about tomorrow.


	10. Cups & Corduroy

Although they had planned on going to the park, they had quickly forgotten all about their plans.

Lily had brought chocolate cake this time, along with chocolate milk. They _did_ remember to play cards though, the game that Lily’s cousin had taught her to play quickly went from something wholesome to a full-blown match. She had won the first round, and Severus had pulled out his bible again- making her swear on it that she wasn’t actually cheating. He had demanded another round, using the excuse of not knowing the game as well as she did, which Lily accepted as fair and they played another four rounds- all of which Severus had lost at.

At the end of the fourth round, Severus was _sure_ Lily _must_ have been using enchanted cards. Severus sighed, nodding his head knowingly- that was probably it…

He had walked her to the end of the bridge again, and had endured another painful goodbye. He wasn’t as sad as he was before though, because they had agreed to meet the next day- much earlier this time since it was Saturday. Saturday would soon become Severus’ favourite day of the entire week.

He had said hello to the Barker Boys on his way, who were excited to tell him that they had gotten their proper driving permits. Severus pretended that this was in any way impressive, _if only they knew about brooms._

He had beat Lily to the tree, and was too restless to keep still and just wait for her. So instead, he walked to the end of the bridge and waited there, twiddling his thumbs. He had spotted her instantly, and quickly got to his feet to greet her, but his expression slightly dropped when he saw Petunia walking along beside her. Petunia was the same height, but clearly a muggle, she hadn’t had a special spark to her at all. In fact, something about her reminded Severus a lot about Tom Delmar.

“This is Petunia.” Lily had chimed, stepping up onto the bridge with her sister. Before Severus could introduce himself, Petunia scoffed and looked down the bridge at what awaited her.

“We’re not going to spend all of Saturday…over there…are we?” She asked full of disgust. Severus felt a flicker of hate in the core of his stomach at once, and felt his ears go red. He had forgotten to be embarrassed of where he lived, when he spent time with Lily, he felt as though he was just as amazing as she was. But this, was a very painful reminder, and picked a scab he had completely forgotten was there.

“What’s wrong with _over there?”_ Lily asked, furrowing her auburn brows. Severus clenched his jaw, hoping Petunia wouldn’t begin to list off the many ways in which Spinner’s End was horribly wrong. But Lily didn’t let Petunia answer her question, instead, she looked back at Severus and shrugged.

“We wanted to go to the park together anyways.” She offered. Severus nodded slowly, wishing Lily had understood that the concept of _we_ in his mind, did _not_ include Petunia at all. But he bit his tongue and followed the two girls through the wooded area, Severus taking note of how Lily guided them on a different path than the one he had taken before- avoiding the shrubbery by the river.

 _She probably doesn’t trust you yet._ Severus had thought.

“Lily says you go to an all-boys school.” Petunia muttered, her pale eyes scanning Severus from tip to toe as if he was an alien. Severus nodded, and wondered what else Lily had mentioned about him. “Does he talk at all?” Petunia scoffed, looking back at her sister who was now taking off her book bag to use the empty swing.

“O-Ob…Obviously.” Severus stammered, deciding at once that he did not like the girl at all.

Petunia widened her eyes slightly, and Severus frowned- knowing what was going to come next. Petunia burst into a chuckle and glanced at Lily who was now staring at Petunia furiously. “What’s so funny?” Lily hissed, getting off the swing. Petunia gave a look as if Lily was asking a ridiculous question.

Petunia looked back at Severus and studied his serious expression. “I thought you were being funny.”

Severus’ lips twitched, and he suddenly wanted nothing more than to be up in his bedroom at home. But this was Saturday, and part of him felt like if he could bear Petunia for a bit longer, Lily would eventually send her back to where she came from, and they could spend the day together as planned. So, he exhaled and chose peace.

It was definitely odd spending time with Lily _and_ her definitely muggle and definitely less interesting than every single way imaginable sister. Severus had often wished he had a sibling, but this experience had already changed his mind on the matter. Petunia had a habit of not only interrupting Severus when he tried to speak, but Lily as well. While Severus would pay his full attention to her stories, Petunia would just chime in with a bad joke and give dull commentary.

Lily didn’t seem to mind though, she looked like she was rather used to it.

Severus came to recognize that Petunia was the type of person to stare at your mouth while you talked, waiting for the exact moment where you would stop- just for her to begin. Severus guessed that she loved the sound of her own voice, which Severus thought must have been an awfully small fan club. The more Petunia talked, and talked, and talked, Severus found himself _missing_ Tom Delmar’s annoying stories.

Petunia had demanded their picnic be held where _she_ had picked out, and didn’t even let Lily sit in the better spot which was facing away from the sun. Lily sat beside him, and Severus quickly noted that this was the first time she they had sat beside each other. They had always sat in front of each other, but never facing the same way- only when he would walk her back down the bridge. This was definitely the highlight so far. Their knees, as they sat cross-legged, were also touching. And he made sure not to move a single centimeter, lest she would notice and move it away. His gaze would often drop down to look at Lily’s knee covered in expensive tan corduroy so casually touching his.

It was much nicer to look at compared to the awful girl in front of him.

Lily had brought cheesecake this time, along with sparkling water. Severus felt as if this was possibly the poshest thing he would ever do. _Water doesn’t need to be sparkling._ Severus had thought. But he drank his beverage cheerfully, because Lily had poured it for him. Severus wondered for a moment if Petunia and Lily Evans had a full-time chef living in their basements who made these cakes for them every day.

“Have you been to this park before?” Petunia asked, looking as if she had about one million motives. Severus froze, and wondered if Petunia had seen him running away as Lily had. He had a feeling she wouldn’t believe his story with the wasps at all- actually, he had a slight suspicion Lily didn’t believe him either, but that didn’t seem to worry him for some reason. It was as if it was an unwritten vow that neither of them would bring it up again.

“N-No.” He lied, holding the cup of sparkling posh water to his lips. Petunia scrunched her nose; it was as if she could _smell_ something wrong. Severus almost chuckled, remembering Lily’s comment about Petunia being rather dog-like. Maybe she could smell a fraud along with peanut butter.

“Who wants more cake?” Lily asked, changing the subject.

Before Severus could answer yes, she had already placed a rather large slice on his paper plate. “None for me, you added too much sugar.” Petunia sighed, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. Severus furrowed his brows, for a moment wishing he could swing Petunia by her stupid ponytail into the river. In defiance, he brought his plate up to his chin and began eating with such rage, he was sure he was going to stab himself with the fork.

Lily had giggled at Petunia’s rather mean comment, and shrugged. “More for Sev and me, then.”

Severus, who was in the middle of stuffing his face, looked over at Lily. His ears had perked up at the nickname and he found it difficult to continue eating the lovely cheesecake with rage after that. Rather, he went back to savouring each bite.

Petunia, as hoped, had grown bored of stammering Severus Snape and had told Lily she would be heading home. Lily seemed delighted about this as well, and told Petunia that she should- and Severus had very much taken note of this- ‘not wait up’ for her. Severus felt rather panicked when Petunia had begun walking away, Lily hadn’t gotten up to move in front of him yet, and their knees were still touching.

“She’s not like that, usually…I’m sorry if she said anything mean.” Lily said once Petunia had rounded the corner. Her voice was soft, but casual, and Severus had preferred it. He didn’t want her to make a big deal about the way Petunia had snickered every time he had stammered on a certain word. Severus had lied and said he didn’t notice her saying anything rude at all, only that Petunia should get her tastebuds checked.

When Lily had finally finished her many bottles of sparkling water, and after a long while of finally being able to tell each other stories and share jokes without being interrupted, she let out a sigh and had laid down on her back. And to Severus’ surprise, addressed his comment about Petunia getting her tastebuds checked.

“Usually, _she’s_ the one who tells me that _I_ should get checked out.”

Severus furrowed his brows at this and turned to face her, “W-What…do y-you mean?” He asked. Lily simply looked up at him and shrugged, “Nothing…”

Severus was obviously rather unsatisfied with this answer and crossed his arms. He had a certain hunch that this had something to do with Lily’s _tricks._ “She…th-thinks you’re m-mad.” He assumed slowly, full of caution.

Lily let out another sigh and clasped her freckled hands together in front of her, and Severus was reminded of an episode of Bordeaux Mansion in which one of the maids had gone to some sort of therapist where she had to lie on this odd-looking couch. He quickly adjusted himself so he was sitting to face her, the sun hitting the back of his head, and had wished he brought a notepad to take notes on.

“I know I’m not mad, thank you very much.” Lily dismissed, rolling her eyes. He arched his brow sarcastically in response, which made Lily laugh.

“Sure y-you aren’t...” He teased, placing his empty dixie cup on top of her forehead for her to balance, which she did rather gracefully.

He watched the cup as Lily spoke, noticing how it stayed perfectly put, even when it got slightly windy and when she would burst out in laughter.

He smiled to himself. Eileen had said there would be small signs that people would show, things exactly like this, that would prove they were magic. And Severus watched with glee as Lily seemed to forget about the cup that was right on top of her forehead completely, and used her hands to talk to him, gesturing about without a care in the world, the cup sitting perfectly still as if she had glued it on.

Lily must have noticed that he wasn’t paying his full attention to her and nudged his shoulder with her knee. “Are you bored yet?” She asked. Severus perked his brows up, another ridiculous question. This witch seemed to be full of them.

“N-No! Are y-you?” He asked.

Lily shook her head, and Severus rose his brows, the cup _still_ perfectly balanced upon her head. He burst out into a laugh, and Lily furrowed her brows. “What?” She said, sitting up again. Severus reached out, and plucked the cup that was now tilted completely sideways, and Lily gasped loudly, as if she was embarrassed.

“How long was it on me?” She laughed, shoving him.

“A w-while. That’s…n-not n-normal, y-you know.” He began, “Should…have f-fallen b-by now.”

“I’m not a cupboard, Sev.” Lily scoffed, crossing her arms as he carefully placed the cup back on top of her head.

“Let’s see h-how long…y-you can keep it o-on f-for.” He suggested, taking an extra second or two placing the cup on the crown of her head, mostly because she smelled so nice.

He got to his feet and offered his hand, and Lily laughed and said with certainty, “It’s going to fall.”

Severus smiled, and rose another brow, as if he knew everything in the world. “Trust me.”

Lily was fully convinced the empty dixie cup on her head would fall down, but decided to take his hand anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not me trying to balance an actual cup on my head after writing this... next chapter will be out soon! and will be the most dramatic yet!! Very much "YER A WIZARD".


	11. Good News & Bad News

When Lily had stood up, to her shock and to Severus’ glee, the cup hadn’t fallen off her head at all. “I read about it,” Lily muttered nervously, taking the cup off herself. “Static electricity…or something…”

Severus gave a confused look, wondering why Lily looked embarrassed. She crumpled the cup in her hand, and tossed it back on to their blue checkered picnic blanket. Severus quickly learned by the way Lily was acting that she wasn’t a good liar, and she clearly didn’t think it was ‘static electricity’ at all.

Severus felt a strong urge to scoff, and to tell Lily it wasn’t _static electricity_ at all, and that it was just magic. Real magic. Magic that she’ll be able to fine tune and learn all about at the best Wizarding School in the world. But Severus, hesitated. This was as good as time as any, wasn’t it? They were alone, it wasn’t like there were any muggles around to ruin it or call it all a lie…

But Severus had a feeling that it just wasn’t the right time to do so. Something as amazing as that, ought to be done with a tad bit more dramatic flair.

And so, Severus allowed Lily to quickly change the subject, pretending he had forgotten completely about the magical dixie cup which seemed to stick to her like a magnet. It was rather difficult though, he had so many questions he wanted to ask her like what class she’d be most excited for, what the Professors at Hogwarts might be like, and if she was planning on getting a toad an owl or a cat.

He’d read once that ‘good things come to those who wait’. And he decided rather quickly that he agreed whole heartedly with it. Afterall, he had waited so many years alone in his tower, and Lily was definitely worth all the times he had felt lonely. He wasn’t going to tell her something like that though, it was much too early to say something as sentimental as what Severus was thinking: _thank you for being my friend! I’m having a lot of fun! Are you free tomorrow, the day after? Maybe next week too!_

“I’d like to get my driving permit too.” Lily said after Severus mentioned the Barker Boys’ new found freedom. Severus bit his tongue, holding in a: _You won’t need one at all!_ As the sun began to set, Severus helped her pack her things, and again apologized for forgetting to bring any snacks of his own.

“I can walk you to your side.” Lily offered.

Severus saw it as a double-edged sword. If she would walk him to his side, she’d be all alone walking back to her side- and…what if there was a troll? She was carrying too much to properly defend herself. So, Severus sighed and decided that she should walk him back to his side, and he would walk her back to her side.

Lily laughed at this, and made a comment of how unnecessary it was and how Severus was just complicating things. But he didn’t care, and was rather adamant that this was the only way it could be done, and that she shouldn’t question him again when it came to matters like this.

When Lily walked with Severus back to his side, she giggled again of how silly it all was. Severus didn’t understand what was so funny. He nodded at her, and turned her back around, now leading her back to her side on the bridge. “Let’s see… I could bring us red velvet tomorrow. Oh! Are you allergic to anything?” Lily asked, tapping her chin. Severus shook his head, thinking it as _another_ ridiculous question.

_Even if I was allergic to something she’d make- I’m obviously still going to eat it… Is she slow?_

But when they had reached back to Lily’s side of the bridge, Lily didn’t say goodbye. Instead, she looked a bit nervous again, and slightly hesitant. Severus held his breath. She was probably going to tell him that she didn’t want to be friends anymore.

“Can I…show you something?” Lily asked slowly, her eyes sparkling.

Severus rose his brows, and slowly nodded his head. Lily let out a sigh, and chuckled to herself, saying how he wouldn’t believe her, and that it wasn’t a big deal, and even- to Severus’ shock- to promise he wouldn’t call her some freak about it. Severus swallowed hard, thinking of how insane one would have to be to ever call Lily Evans such a horrible word like that.

Lily guided Severus back toward the park, but this time cut through and walked down by the river. Severus knew at once where she was taking him, and began to work out his script in his head at once.

“They’re b-blue!” He gasped, possibly acting a bit _too_ shocked when they rounded the corner to see the three shrubs from before, covered in blue blooming flowers. Lily looked at him, and sighed, scratching the back of her head. “I know…” She muttered.

Severus paused for a moment, and looked down at her, knowing exactly what to say next.

“D-Did you…d-do this?” He asked, hoping it sounded genuine.

Lily nodded slowly, and walked up to the shrub right by Severus, “I don’t know how… but…” She placed her hand over a green bud yet to bloom, and when she had lifted it, a beautiful blue flower appeared- just like the ones that sprinkled the others.

_Brilliant._

Severus smiled widely and Lily furrowed her brows, possibly waiting for Severus to gasp as dramatically as he did before- he didn’t seem at all surprised about it.

He cleared his throat, and placed his hand over another bud on the shrub, and when his hand had lifted- Lily had gasped loudly- a flower just as blue as hers appeared right under it. She grabbed his arm and shook it, staring at the two flowers now in front of them,

“You can do it too?” She shouted.

Severus had to recover for a moment. Lily grabbing his arm so quickly made his entire face flush. He cleared his throat and nodded, plucking the flower he had made and handed it to her.

“All w-witches and…w-wizards can.” He revealed. Severus was slightly disappointed; this wasn’t nearly as dramatic as he had wanted to make the news. He considered making her a pink frosted cake with “ _YOU ARE A WITCH”._ But Severus had realized that this wasn’t the first time Lily had ruined his plans- she was beginning to make a habit of it. He didn’t mind at all.

Lily still seemed stunned at the flower that was in her hand to really hear what he had said. Severus laughed, he felt as if he had just seen a rug being pulled from under her- he had never seen someone so at a loss for words, and Severus owned a mirror, so that was saying something.

Lily stayed silent for a moment, and then opened her mouth, only to shut it again and look back at the blue flower rested on her palm. Severus crossed his arms, and tilted his head. Lily’s hair looked rather blue as well, now. Everything looked blue under the full moon above them.

“Witches? Wizards? You must be kidding.” She scoffed, looking up at him, a hint of annoyance in her voice- as if Severus was making it all up.

He rolled his eyes, “D-Do you think P-P-Petunia could do something like th-this?” Lily considered this, although she looked slightly annoyed of how Severus had said her sister’s name so full of spite.

“Well, no.” She answered.

Severus let out another laugh. “That’s…b-because she’s a m-muggle. Not m-magic.” _And thank Merlin for that._

Lily opened her mouth to say something, and closed it, looking back down at the flower.

“I’ll explain t-tomorrow.” Severus offered. She looked like she wasn’t going to retain any information anyway, Lily looked so stunned it was starting to make Severus think he must have broken something. But Lily’s eyes shot back up at him and the tidal wave of questions began at such a quick pace that Severus was sure she was either going to explode, or her mouth would just fall off.

“A muggle? That’s what they’re called? But who named them? Wait, are we the only ones? How did you know? There has to be others! We have to find the others, Sev! Have you met another wizard or witch before? Is this why I didn’t sprain my ankle last Christmas? Do we have magical healing powers or something? Oh! Your wrist from before, is that why it isn’t at all sore anymore? Or did you just wear a cast when you got home? Do non-muggles even need casts? We-“

Severus placed his finger over her mouth to stop the rampage. “One q-question at a…time.”

Lily nodded eagerly and as Severus lifted his finger, the questions came rolling out again, faster than ever.

“Do we pull rabbits out of hats like they do in morning cartoons? What about top hats? I guess those are magicians and not wizards though- never mind! Do we have to keep it all a secret? We ought to keep it a secret, Sev! Or, no, maybe we shouldn’t? What do you think? We should tell someone about this! Have you ever told anyone about it? Do your parents know about it? My parents just said I was lucky or strange, Petunia calls me a freak for it, but I guess it makes sense now! I mean, I would think it was strange too, but they’re muggles, right? That’s what they’re called right-“

Severus rose his finger in warning, and Lily quickly shut her mouth. He chuckled and shook his head, wishing he could answer her questions just as fast as she had asked him. He felt sad again, knowing it was going to take everything in Lily to find the patience to listen to his slow stutter as he would work to answer them all.

Lily seemed to pick up on his mood change as if it was worn right on top of his head. She stuffed the blue flower into her pocket, and clapped her hands together. “Tomorrow.” She declared.

Severus smiled widely, “I’ll…write it a-all out!” He promised. Lily nodded, and checked her watch. “As soon as you can, okay?” She asked. Severus rolled his eyes, _as if_ was going to put something like this off until the afternoon!

Severus had spent the entire night writing pages and pages of everything there was to know about the Wizarding World, and he also made sure to write it all down as neatly as he could. He wrote all about the original magical families, the four founders of Hogwarts, the rules of Quidditch- which included little sketches of the Golden Snitch that Severus was quite proud of, although he did wish he had coloured pencils to colour it in yellow.

He wrote about what wand cores were made up of, and also listed as many mythical creatures as he could remember, along with what they looked like. He wrote about Dementors, Rememberalls, and Chocolate Frogs (which although he had never tried, he knew were much better than any chocolate muggles made).

Severus was so wrapped up in writing all he knew, that he hardly noticed that it was well past midnight; and before the wizard knew it, he had fallen asleep on top of his notebook, his fountain pen still in hand.

The next morning, Severus essentially had sprinted out of the house, his mother had called after him to ask what all the rush was about but he had only gotten out a stammering goodbye.

He knew, without even looking at the time, that he was definitely late. And to his horror, as he crossed the street with his hair a morning mess, he spotted Lily talking with The Barker Boys.

Severus felt a wave of jealousy course through him that caused him to start sprinting down the street. Lily was laughing at one of their jokes, and Jack Barker was holding out a deck of playing cards and was asking her to “pick a card, any card.”

“Afternoon, Sevy dearest.” Edgar laughed, noticing the boy first.

Severus was out of breath from running, and he furrowed his brows at Lily. “What? You’re the one who’s late!” She scoffed, crossing her arms.

He groaned in annoyance, and took her hand, leading her down the street and away from the Barker Boys. “Nice meeting you, Evans!” Edgar Barker laughed behind them. “Don’t be a stranger, now!” Jack added.

“It’s nearly one o’clock!” Lily huffed as they made their way up the small hill. Severus scoffed and waved the notebook at her. “T-Took me… all n-night!” Severus handed it to her and sat down on the grass opposite of the tree, smoothing out his morning hair with his fingers. Lily sat in front of him, and held the composition book in her hand, as if it was a delicate artifact.

“G-go on.” Severus chuckled, giving up on his hair.

Lily looked up at him and surprisingly handed the notebook back. Severus took it hesitantly, and wondered for a moment if Lily didn’t want to learn about the Wizarding World after all.

“Go on!” Lily said, leaning back on the tree and shutting her eyes. Severus furrowed his brows at once, unsure of what exactly he ought to get on with.

“R-read it,” Severus insisted, handing it back to Lily. Lily opened her eyes just to roll them. _“You_ read it. Read it to me.” She ordered.

Severus suddenly went very pale. Speaking was already difficult. Reading out loud? Even when he had done it himself all alone, he could only go five minutes without growing frustrated. And he didn’t like the idea of Lily being frustrated with him. He knew she didn’t mind his stutter much, but she was so eager to learn about magic- there’s no way she’ll have the patience to deal with his awful speech.

After a certain moment of silence, Lily nudged Severus’ knee with her foot. “B-But…” Severus muttered; absolutely sure this was some practical joke.

“My stutter is worse w-when I read.”

“But I’m lazy. And your penmanship is quite awful, you know. I can barely read it myself.” Lily sighed, shutting her eyes again, leaning her head back on the bark.

He had opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it. He wasn’t going to just ignore her orders, was he? Severus couldn’t think at all about how stupid he’d have to be to even risk the possibility of crossing her. Still...Severus was quite petrified that she’d laugh at him.

After another long moment of silence, without opening her eyes at all, Lily spoke again; in a voice that was as soft as the wind that was blowing through the leaves just above them.

“I don’t notice it at all, Sev.”

Severus felt as if he was melting, like a dab of butter on toast. He cleared his throat, and took a deep breath in, and out. And as he began reading, Lily began taking out the red velvet cupcakes she had made- along with two small cartons of strawberry milk.

For the first few hours, Severus had a large ball of emotion in the back of his throat. The anxiety was indescribable- and he was scared that with every stammering word he blurted out, that Lily would become frustrated or laugh at him. But as the hours went on, the ball had dropped, and Severus- although still stammering- had not felt nervous at all. Although on the inside, Lily must have been bursting with excitement, she hadn’t dared interrupt him at all. Not even once.

Severus had only stopped reading when his jaw was too sore to go on. He turned the corner of the page, and set the book down. Lily let out a chuckle, shaking her head in amazement. Still taking it all in.

“I can’t believe it. I mean… I do! I know you aren’t lying about it, obviously… but still.” Severus nodded; it must be a great lot to deal with. There were so many things Lily hadn’t known for so long.

Lily told him all about her tricks then, and how Petunia would get cross with her constantly. Lily wasn’t sure why her sister hated it so much. Severus knew the answer of course- _jealousy_.

“Y-You’ll get your letter s-soon.” Severus assured her. But then he suddenly gasped, realizing he didn’t know at all when Lily’s birthday was.

“When’s y-your birthday!” He demanded, hoping he hadn’t missed it.

“Thirtieth of January. Yours?”

Severus sighed in relief, and smiled. “9th of January.”

Lily seemed relieved too.

“We ought to have a joint birthday party. Cindy Wellington had one with Jamie Lester at school. Petunia went, I wasn’t invited.” Lily said.

Severus thought Lily’s idea, like all of her other ideas. was brilliant. And they both agreed that the 19th of January would be the day they would celebrate both their birthdays until (and this was Severus’ addition) the end of time.

Lily said that once they learn how to do it, they would make an unbreakable vow. No birthday cake unless it’s on the 19th. And Severus had scoffed, and said that was way too dramatic, but agreed anyways.

Lily had mentioned the Barker Boys told her that (to Severus’ horror) that she should feel lucky that he was spending so much time with her, and that Severus had, quote, “lots of birds dotted down in his schedule.”

Severus had called them liars, and Lily told Severus that she wouldn’t care either way, long as he’d still be her friend. Severus had hoped that she would be more angry about it for some reason. He made her promise that she wouldn’t believe a word that came out of the Barker Boys’ mouths.

“I wish it wasn’t Monday tomorrow. I hate Monday’s.”

“I h-hate M-Mondays too.”

“Copycat.”

Severus scoffed, and Lily laughed, “aren’t you excited to see Tom Delmar?” She teased.

Severus groaned, slapping his forehead, almost forgetting about the horrible blabbering fool waiting for him. “Thanks f-for reminding m-me!”

Lily began braiding her hair, which Severus turned to look at, he found it fascinating.

“I don’t know why it has to be boys _only_ school?” She asked.

Severus rolled his eyes, “ _muggles_.”

Lily laughed, “ _muggles_!” She repeated just as sarcastically.

Severus smiled, and thought about how badly he wished it was Saturday again. “S-Summer’s going to b-be fun.”

Lily sighed sadly, and Severus quickly sat up, she sounded sad about summer! His mind was racing at once. But why! We’ll have every day, all day, together! Why does she look so disappointed about it? “We holiday in Rome every summer. My uncle’s got a place there, he works as an art historian.” Lily explained, finishing her braid.

Severus felt as if he’d just been hit with a bus. And he felt panicked. “All s-summer?” He whined.

“Yeah. My parents save up their vacation days. Wait! Maybe you could come with us?”

Severus laughed at this, what an impossible thing. “You could fly there, on a broom!” Lily suggested. Severus blushed, and crossed his arms, lying back down on the grass.

“D-Don’t know how t-to fly one yet…” they were also expensive. _Very_ expensive.

“You’ll learn soon enough! Come on, let’s not think about it.” Lily said, changing the subject.

But Severus couldn’t help but think about it. Who would he talk to? He felt lonely sometimes during the summers, but he knew that with Lily gone he’d feel lonely every second of every day! He gulped down the ball in his throat. Besides, it was only April, Summer was months away! How many days though? Severus decided he’d count on the calendar when he got home, and then have a nice good cry about it when he was alone.

He reached for another perfectly made cupcake, and listened to Lily talk about whatever she wanted, which was what he wanted anyway. He was too sad to make proper conversation now. 

When Severus had dropped her off, Lily had made him promise he wouldn’t be late again. And Severus agreed, and decided he would beg his mother to buy him a pair of trainers when he got home.

Lily didn’t let Severus give her the notebook to take home, saying that Petunia often looked through her things and that it would be safer with him.

“Bye!” Lily chimed, waving goodbye as she trotted off the steps. Severus gave a sad wave, counting one day closer to Summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alexa, please have "summertime sadness" by LDR queued up on the playlist. hahaha I hope you are all having an amazing day! This week I'm planning on pumping a lot of chapters out, I'm finally done my midterms!! I'm also going to be speeding this a little, don't worry Hogwarts is coming very soon!


	12. The Willow Order & Old Friends

Over the next few weeks, Severus had tried almost every type of desert one could think of. But that was only part of what made his time with Lily so sweet. He hadn’t noticed it initially, but his speech was beginning to improve. It was a slow progress of course, one that was only made aware to him when he noticed Tom Delmar wasn’t interrupting him so often anymore. His mother had even given him _Hogwarts, a History._ Which he carried (with much strain, the damn thing was as big as he was) to the weeping willow tree to read to Lily. They mostly talking about Hogwarts, and how much fun the Wizarding World was going to be, all the things they would do and the things they wouldn’t.

Lily had mentioned that she was getting into more fights with Petunia. Severus didn’t quite understand the drama there- it all seemed like subtext. But Severus just kept assuring her that she wouldn’t have to deal with it for long, and that she shouldn’t be too concerned over what a muggle like Petunia should think of her. 

Severus had gone over all the lists he had made during his classes at St. Valentines of things to ask Lily about, and he was sure that he knew everything about the Evans girl by the time June had arrived. Lily had asked Severus questions as well- but the ones regarding family- he had never answered. And Lily was quick to notice, so, she didn’t ask him at all about his mother or father- or if he had any aunts and uncles.

Lily had also talked about Rome, and how she liked the gelato but didn’t really care for all the walking her father would make them do- she said that a lot of the streets were quite literally paved in marble- and it hurt her ankles. Severus didn’t mind Lily talking about her holidays. He hated when Tom did, or when he would overhear other students at school talking about them. But Lily had a way of talking about all the interesting things her family had all done together, that didn't make it seem like she was bragging at all about it.

Severus had even showed Lily how to climb the tree, and which branches to avoid. They had quite the little routine, and Severus was more than grateful for it. When Severus had a big test coming up he would spend his days after school studying under the branches of their tree, and even though Lily didn’t have exams, she would still keep him company. She would quiz him on formulas and definitions, and in turn, his grades rose exponentially.

They had only gone to the park on the other side of the bridge a few handful of times, and each time, the two would also go by the river and turn the newly bloomed blue flowers all kinds of different colours.

But when Severus had come home from a long day of bliss, he would always have to check his happiness at the door, anxiety crippling his stomach each time he turned the doorknob- terrified that Tobias would meet him again, waiting on that couch in front of the television.

Today, however, Eileen was on the couch- but she wasn’t watching television at all. She was having tea, with a complete stranger. The man was strange-looking. He had long white hair, dropping down to his ribs. His cheekbones were almost as prominent and high as his mothers, and his face was angular and sharp. Even his eyelashes were white, it looked like snowflakes were clinging to them. He was dressed in non-muggle clothing; white silk and dark green robes. A cane was rested on his lap, Severus could make out some sort of silver snake coiled around it.

“So, this is the boy?” the man asked, his voice deep and full of authority.

Eileen smiled sweetly and gestured for Severus to come over. “How was school?” She asked with a cheerful smile.

_How was school? Who in the world is this man?_

Severus slowly walked over to the couch, standing by his mother, letting her kiss his cheek hello. His eyes were still fixated on the man in their living room. His eyes were a pale milky grey and to his surprise, looked rather kind.

“Hello.” Severus finally said, clasping his hands nervously in front of him. They’d never had a guest over before, other than policemen and Severus wondered if Tobias knew about the strange guest.

The stranger narrowed his eyes- and Severus wondered for a moment if he could read his thoughts. “Looks just like you, Eileen. Thank Merlin.” He chuckled, although his eyes didn’t squint at all. “Doesn’t he?” Eileen sighed, tucking a lock of Severus’ hair behind his ear.

“Severus, this is Abraxas. Abraxas Malfoy. He’s an old friend of mine, we went to Hogwarts together.” Eileen finally introduced. Severus rose his brows, his mouth almost dropping. A _Malfoy? A member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, in our living room? On Spinner’s End?_ Abraxas glanced at Eileen and looked back at Severus. He offered his hand, and Severus didn’t know whether to kiss it or to shake it, but he decided on the latter. Severus sat on the coffee table, too stunned to find a seat elsewhere- his mind was racing- what in the world was he doing here? Severus was so curious he almost didn’t notice that his mother was wearing makeup- quite a lot of it- mostly because she had burned the roast last night.

Abraxas leaned forward, narrowing his eyes at Severus again. “I’ve heard quite a lot about you, Severus. But I suppose, you haven’t heard much of me, is that right?” He asked. Severus shook his head no, and Malfoy chuckled, his voice almost a vibrating hum.

“There isn’t much about you that’s really that interesting, is there?” Eileen sighed, taking a sip of her tea. Abraxas chuckled again, and shook his head- “Perhaps not.” Severus wanted to ask his many questions, but couldn’t find the words to do so.

Malfoy sighed and rose to his feet, “Well, Severus. It was wonderful meeting you. This shan’t be our last, of course. I’ll see you…” he tapped his long finger on the very tip of Severus’ nose, “very soon.”

The tall pure-blood wizard gave another glance at Eileen, and smiled, before tapping his cane sternly on the floor- disappearing at once. Severus shot his eyes immediately at his mother- demanding answers. “What did he want!” Severus asked, shaking off his book bag.

Eileen smiled, and glanced as to where he was sitting. “To chat.” She answered, looking back at him. “About you, mostly.” She added with a wink.

Severus furrowed his brows, still in shock. But then his mind began racing with worry. Was Abraxas going to take him away from Spinners End? Is that what he was implying? What if he was going to make them move? They can’t move! “I’m n-not moving!” Severus snapped.

Eileen tilted her head, raising a brow. “We’re not moving. Where did you get _that_ from, and why are you so upset?”

Severus shook his head, relieved, but still anxious. “I haven’t talked to him in ages.” Eileen chuckled, getting up and taking the dishes to the kitchen. Severus wasn’t sure if the woman in the kitchen was his mother, for a moment he was sure someone must have used Polyjuice Potion- he couldn’t remember the last time she looked so happy.

He crossed his arms, and _again_ wished he owned a smoking pipe. He had just met a Malfoy, and not only that, a _real_ wizard! He’d only met witches before… His mother never mentioned him, which was strange. She never mentioned anything about personally knowing _any_ members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Did they really go to Hogwarts together? Severus didn’t remember seeing him in any moving photographs, but then again, there were only a handful that Eileen had kept in the first place.

“He’s… an o-old friend?” Severus asked, tapping his chin.

Eileen turned off the tap and looked over at the detective now perched on her coffee table. She rose a brow at him, refusing to let the boy intimidate her. “Yes. A very old one.” She put quite simply.

Severus slowly rose from the table, and clasped his hands behind him, nose in the air, his brow arched so high it was almost comical. “A… _secretive_ o-one?” He noticed. Eileen burst out into a laugh, and Severus tried his best not to join her.

“I don’t know where you get this theatrical flair, it certainly isn’t from me.” Eileen scoffed, ruffling his hair before turning the tap back on. Severus snorted at that, “Not from _him,_ obviously.”

A small pause. And Eileen Prince sighed again, a little dark cloud forming back over her head. “Obviously.” She repeated. Severus frowned, and suddenly felt guilty for reminding her of the existence of the worst person on earth. _Good job, idiot!_

“He said h-he was going to see me soon?” Severus quickly brought the subject back to a lighter place. He rested his elbows beside his mother on the counter, watching her wash the dishes. Eileen smiled, and nodded. “He’s going to be taking you to Diagon Alley as soon as you get your letter. You’ll also get to meet his son- Lucius. Very bright boy.”

“W-What? I thought _we_ were g-going to go.” Severus whined, feeling disappointed. Of course, it was amazing to have met a Malfoy, but his mother had promised that she would take him once he got his letter _loads_ of times! What changed? 

Eileen shook her head, “Lucius is just three years ahead of you, he might even help you get on the Slytherin Quidditch team! You should ask him about it. He’s a Chaser. A very good one, from what Abraxas says.”

Severus scoffed, and crossed his arms, feeling a rather burning pit of betrayal, and began to whine, “But you said _you_ w-were going to take m-me! We w-were going to get my wand and then g-get my robes, my-“

“ _Arrêtez ça_! I know, Severus. But Abraxas will be taking you now, enough complaining!” She snapped. Severus had jerked away at once, worried she was going to hit him.

Eileen noticed this, and sighed again, taking off her yellow gloves to rub her temples. “I can’t take you, _mon prince._ I’d like to, but I’m not…” Her voice broke, and she inhaled sharply, turning the tap on again, and continued the dishes- as if nothing had happened. Severus grabbed his book bag, and stomped up the stairs, burning with rage.

“She m-must have promised me o-one hundred times!” Severus scoffed, plucking another dandelion. “I’d r-rather just go alone! I d-don’t need some... _babysitter_.” He added, adding it to the small pile next to Lily. Lily was sitting up, her green eyes were focussed on the flower crown she was making.

“My Mum won’t be able to take me either.” Lily offered. Severus rolled his eyes, laying down on the grass, feeling defeated. Of course Lily's mother couldn't take her, she was a muggle. “At least you won’t have to go with a _Professor._ ” Lily chuckled, placing a dandelion on top of Severus’ forehead.

Severus considered this. He looked up at Lily who was now picking another dandelion to put on his forehead. “I guess…” He sighed, perking his nose higher into the air, “I guess b-being _escorted_ by a _Malfoy_ won’t be _so_ bad.”

Lily nodded, glad she had cheered him up, and got back to her flower crown. Severus plucked the bright yellow dandelion that was still on his forehead and closed it over his fist. When he had opened it, it had turned a bright blue. Before he knew it, Lily had snatched it from his palm and had added it to the others on her little wreath.

He sat up again to face her, and watched her finish it. A yellow flower crown, with a bright blue dandelion right in the middle. “B-Better than w-what Queen Elizabeth’s got.” Severus said. Lily smiled proudly at it.

“Right?” Lily laughed, placing it on top of her head. “Not really _Wizarding Roya_ lty, am I?” She joked.

Severus laughed and got up, picking up a long twig that had fallen from the tree above them, and handed it to her. “What’s this?” Lily asked, getting up and taking it, swishing it around a few times. Severus rolled his eyes, “A sword _. Obviously_. You o-ought to knight me now.” He answered as if it was another one of her ridiculous questions.

Lily laughed and began getting into character; putting on the poshest accent she could muster declared, “I dub thee-“

“Actually, that’s n-not what you’re s-supposed to say.” He interrupted. Lily simply scoffed back, pointing at her crown, silencing him at once.

“I dub thee, Severus Snape, a _wizard-_ knight… A wizard-knight of the…” She paused for a moment and tapped her chin. “Willow Order.” She laughed, tapping his left shoulder, and then the right.

And so, Severus rose, officially a wizard-knight of the Willow Order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next one will be up very soon! <3


	13. Goodbyes & Stationary

On the last day of June, Severus had woken up with a large pit in his stomach. He was tempted to not even get out of bed, and to just rot in sorrow and melancholy. It would be easier, Severus had thought. Saying goodbye to Lily for the whole summer would be the hardest thing he's ever have to do. He was sure he was going to cry, so had already packed tissues and even rehearsed the excuses he would use. _I’ve just got something in eye, I’m obviously not crying!_

Severus didn’t know how he was going to deal with not having something so wonderful to look forward to everyday. Petunia would be able to talk to Lily every day, and Severus had never felt so unbelievably jealous of a muggle ever before.

Lily was already waiting under the tree with a sad look on her face. Severus sighed loudly as he sat down, grabbing the copy of The Hobbit from his book-bag that he had stolen from St. Valentines. He had spent lunch periods at school annotating all of his favourite parts, and had even drawn a little sketch of Smaug the dragon on the cover page.

“As p-promised.” Severus sighed, handing it to her. Lily smiled and skimmed through some of the pages.

“I’ll read it on the plane!” She chuckled.

Severus scoffed, laying down on the grass in misery. Lily placed the book in her book bag, and took out- to Severus’ shock- a present of her own- wrapped in beautiful blue shiny paper. He furrowed his brows, and was suddenly angry with himself. _Idiot! You didn’t wrap your present at all!_

“Open it!” Lily laughed, handing him the box. Severus shook his head so that his hair covered his now blushed cheeks and began unwrapping the present.

The box was tightly packed, and came with what Severus initially thought to be _hundreds_ of brown letter envelopes- with red piping over the borders. Accompanying these envelopes, were a pack of navy-blue candle sticks, all tied together by brown string. Severus’ jaw had dropped when he recognized the last item in the box- a wax seal stamp! Just like the ones from the movies!

He took it out immediately, surprised of how heavy it was. It was a dark varnished wood, and had a beautiful golden top. He had flipped it over to see the stamp, and saw a cursive letter “S”.

“I stole a bunch of stamps from my Dad’s office, too!” Lily laughed, peering over the box to take out a small glass mason jar, packed to the brim with postage stamps.

Severus felt like his chin was already beginning to wobble, and had to quickly pack up the present back into its box; if he looked at it for a moment longer, he was sure he was going to burst out in tears like a baby. Lily had said before how they ought to just write to each other, but Severus had turned down the idea for two reasons:

The first was that he wasn’t sure if he had any of the proper things one would need to send a letter. The second, Severus had said, was that he didn’t want to bother Lily on vacation. Which of course, Lily had scoffed at, but he was adamant that if he _were_ able to send letters- he wouldn’t be able to stop until she came back and might get her in trouble with the postman.

“Mum wouldn’t let me put in a lighter for the wax. I’m not allowed anywhere near them, ever since _The Incident.”_ Lily sighed, rolling her eyes. _The Incident_ was a rather recent one; Lily had ‘accidentally’ lit Petunia’s favourite Barbie Doll on fire, after Petunia had told her off for her _tricks_ again.

Severus let out a laugh and shook his head again. He held out his pointer finger, he flicked his wrist, a small flame appeared right at the top of his finger- which made Lily’s eyes widen. “You’ve never taught me that!” She gasped.

Severus shrugged, turning the flame dimmer and dimmer until it disappeared. “I’ll t-teach you when you get back.” Severus promised, hoping it would give Lily more reason to return.

They didn’t let themselves be gloomy for the day. Instead, they spent it wrapped up in conversation, staring up at the clouds.

They _had_ gotten into an argument when it was time to go home. Severus had demanded he drop her off on her side of the bridge like he always did, but Lily had said that she wanted to drop him off too- so, Severus had come up with the idea of walking each other to the other side of the bridge once each- and then would say goodbye at the middle of it.

They both walked painfully slow each time across the bridge, and when they had reached the middle- they hugged goodbye. Lily was the first to let go, which Severus felt awfully embarrassed about.


	14. Sign Offs & Gelato

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very much recommend listening to Brian Hyland's "Sealed With a Kiss" for this one! Bobby Vinton's version is also very nice! :) I hope you are having a great day!

_Dear Lily,_

_Did you finish The Hobbit yet? I don’t want to spoil it, so let me know where you’ve read up to. I hope it’s not too boring. I hope Petunia didn’t bother you on the plane, she’s probably just jealous you actually know how to read._

_How’s Rome?_

_Yours Truly,_

_Severus._

_Dear Sev,_

_I’ve finished it. I think if they ever made a movie, they should cast Tom Delmar as Gollum. I think I’d made a good elf. But I guess we’d both be Gandalf._

_Rome is as boring as you could imagine. Petunia’s been a nightmare. Mum and Dad have been taking her side more than usual. Last night they said that I was ruining the whole trip because of how much of a bad mood I’ve been in. It’s mostly because I can’t talk about magic around them. I wish you could have come along, maybe ask your parents if you can come next summer!_

_It wouldn’t be a problem at all, we’ve got a spare room where Petunia could stay so you can take the top bunk! I think you’d either love it, or hate it. It might remind you a lot about school- churches everywhere!_

_What have you been up to?_ _Write soon, okay?_

_Yours Truly,_

_Lily_

_Dear Lily,_

_You haven’t gotten the ears for an elf. But Tom Delmar would make a perfect Gollum. Petunia could make a good Goblin. I don’t think I’d like Rome at all, I’ve actually decided that I hate Italy. Along with Spain- but that’s a long story._

_My Mum can speak Italian, she says it’s a lot like French, which doesn’t make any sense at all. I’d love to learn any kind of Elvish. We could make up a language like Tolkien did! I think that would be a good idea. Might come in handy, especially around muggles._

_I haven’t really been up to anything at all. I think this is the worst summer ever. The Barkers had a big party last night, so the police came. But that’s about it._

_Yours truly, as always,_

_Severus._

_Dear Sev,_

_Please don’t call my sister a Goblin._

_Why do you hate Spain? And how can you hate Italy if you’ve never even been here before? If you didn’t want to come, you could just say so._

_I think we should make up a language too! How would we start? I guess with an alphabet? Let’s have 19 letters._

_Yours truly, as always,_

_Lily._

_Dear Lily,_

_OK, I won't._

_Actually, I don’t want to make up a language anymore._

_Stop copying my sign off’s._

_As Always,_

_Severus._

_Dear Severus,_

_Stop being cross._

_As Always,_

_Lily._

_Dear Lily,_

_I’m not cross._

_Severus._

_Dear Sev,_

_I included a polaroid of my favourite gelato place. We’ll go here whenever you decide you don’t hate Italy anymore._

_What a horrible sign-off! I won’t be copying that one, thank-you-very-much. Please write soon, I’m awfully bored._

_As Always,_

_Lily._

_Dear Lily,_

_What’s your favourite flavour? I’m bored too. How many vowels should we make up?_

_As Always,_

_Severus._


	15. Helmets & Swords

The summer was long, and treacherous. Edgar and Jack Barker had asked Severus where his _girlfriend_ went, and he had simply said it wasn’t any of their business- although he didn’t correct them regarding her title. Most days were spent in his room, he had only gone to the weeping willow tree when a letter had come in, which thanks to Her Majesty’s Muggle post system came twice a week, and _not_ every day. Severus sent one every day until he realized he was beginning to run short on envelopes and stamps.

Severus had also written to Lily about Abraxas Malfoy. He had visited once again in July, and twice in the first week of August. Tobias was never home, and Eileen would usually send him up to his room after he had said hello. Of course, he had his ear right to his door, trying to make out some of their conversation, but had always stopped listening when he would begin to hear his mother cry. It seemed terribly private, and by the time Severus would come downstairs for Dinner, Abraxas would be gone.

Eileen seemed in a better mood when he had visited her, and Severus hoped that he would visit more often. Lily had hoped for it too, and she even suggested that he write a letter to him. Severus had told Lily that Abraxas only visited when Tobias wasn’t home, and Lily had suggested that they offer Eileen to use their willow tree as a meeting place for when Tobias was home- but Severus had written back saying that wasn’t a good idea- and that it was _their_ tree, and that they shouldn't share it.

In the second last week of August, Abraxas had visited again, this time- to Severus’ surprise- bearing gifts.

“I believe I might have…overdone it.” He had sighed, a thin smile crossing his face. Severus had been gifted, to his glee, a bicycle!

“This is too much!” Eileen gasped, crossing her arms as Severus unwrapped it. “How am I going to explain this?” She asked, turning to face the tall wizard.

Abraxas had simply chuckled and placed his hand on her shoulder, “Explaining yourself to a _muggle_? How ridiculous.”

Severus had said thank you around thirty times, and had carried it all the way up to his room. As soon as he had it in his room, he pulled out his stationary-already starting on the letter he’d send to Lily telling her the great news. That night, Eileen had come in and told Severus that if Tobias _did_ ask about it- that he’d tell him he was simply borrowing it from a friend. Severus had of course, agreed to this; the idea of lying to Tobias was a thrilling one- and Severus had actually hoped the man _would_ ask about it.

Severus didn’t exactly know why Abraxas Malfoy had gotten him and his mother a bunch of presents (Abraxas had gotten Eileen some sort of jewelry box, and a few silk scarves in orange boxes), so he decided to take up the question with Lily- she’d probably know why. Lily wrote back her hypothesis:

_Maybe he fancies her? My Dad buys my Mum presents all the time. Especially jewelry!_

Severus had scoffed at this, and written back that her idea made no sense at all. Besides, that wouldn’t explain why Abraxas got him a bike, now, would it?

Severus was rather excited about having a bike. He had never asked for one, even though he really wanted one. When school would start, he’d be able to get to the weeping willow tree in no time! Not only that, but he could ride it to the library and return the damn library books that were still under his bed- now collecting dust.

Edgar and Jack Barker had taught him how to ride it over the weekend, which took an entire afternoon. Edgar and Jack had also told Severus that he should wear a helmet, but Severus had scoffed at them and said he wouldn’t need one.

_Wizards don’t need bicycle helmets!_

The last letter Lily had sent arrived three days before she would. And Severus couldn’t be more excited. Even when Tobias had screamed at him the night before for what seemed like hours- it hadn’t even irked his mood a bit. He woke before the sun did, and biked to the willow tree, and began pacing around it- his hands clasped behind him. Although they had written to each other countless times, Severus still felt awfully lonely.

He had climbed up on the branches, and wished he owned a pair of binoculars. He didn’t really need them of course; he had a perfect view of the bridge and a bit afterwards too- but they would have been much more theatrical to use. He had grown restless after a few hours, and had climbed down from the tree, and walked across the bridge, leaving his bike parked behind.

_What in the world is taking her so long? Did the plane crash? It probably crashed. But she’d be fine right? Does Lily know how to swim? You should ask her. No! You can’t ask her because she’s probably dead by now. No, even worse, she probably forgot. She most definitely forgot to meet you. Idiot._

He was sitting on the bridge, leaning against the railings. His ankle was a bit sore from tapping it for so long. He checked his wrist, pretending there was a watch there, and sighed. She hadn’t mentioned what _time_ she was going to arrive, but Severus wasn’t going to just miss it and have Lily walk down Spinner’s End alone (especially because the Barker Boys were at home). No, Severus had a plan. He was going to wait here, and wait for her.

Severus looked up at the clouds, wondering what time it was. His eyelids began to drop, and he yawned- he shouldn’t have woken up so early…

Severus woke up as soon as a certain scent had flooded his nose. He opened his eyes to see his friend waving her hand in his face. “Good morning, sleeping beauty.” She laughed. For a moment, he was sure he was still dreaming. Dreaming of angels, probably. But once he realized Lily was actually there, he had jumped to his feet and embraced his friend. This time, to Severus’ delight- _he_ was the first to pull away. He was quite annoyed with himself though, his plan of spotting Lily first was ruined. But he was quick to push the failure away.

Severus was so excited; he hadn’t noticed Lily was rolling her luggage behind her. But when he finally did, he took it from her at once. “I can carry it.” Lily insisted. Severus scoffed at her in response. He carried it with perfectly hidden difficulty- _What in the world does she have in here? Brick stones?_

When they reached their tree, Severus showed her his bike and offered to teach her how to ride it. He was greatly disappointed to learn that she already knew how to ride bikes- and wished she would have lied about it so he could teach her anyway.

“You haven’t un-unpacked yet?” Severus asked, pointing at the pink luggage. Lily laughed and sat down in her usual spot, rolling it in front of her. Severus noticed how pink her cheeks were, and furrowed his brows- thinking it was probably just a sunburn or something.

He sat down in front of her as he always did and to his surprise, she began opening the small case up. “I just got you a few things!” Lily chuckled, avoiding eye contact for whatever reason. Severus felt his stomach drop at once.

_I haven’t gotten her anything! Was I supposed to get her something? Idiot! Of course, you were!_

The small carry-on was packed to the brim with all sorts of chocolates and wafers, which they both opened immediately. Lily had gotten him a miniature (although it was quite large) sculpture of the Coliseum, a bag of rocks that she had collected from the many ruins she had visited (which explained why it was so heavy), along with a comically large light grey sweater that had ‘SPQR’ written on it. Severus had quickly put it on, because Lily was wearing the same one.

“You sh-shouldn’t have gotten me all of this…” Severus sighed, scratching the back of his head after they finished the vanilla wafers. Lily simply rolled her eyes and closed the now empty case.

“They had Roman swords in the gift shops, I was going to get you one but my Mum didn’t let me.” She sighed.

“That w-would have been amazing!” Severus gasped.

Lily frowned, and to Severus’ shock, looked awfully disappointed. He grabbed a long twig from under the tree and pointed it at her. “B-But I’ve already got one, remember?” Lily had laughed at this, and they began talking about if they should implement their own language (which was still very much a work-in-progress) in the Willow Order or not.

By the end of the day, they both had terrible stomach aches. From all the sweets, and all of the laughter that took up the majority of the day. Severus placed all of his gifts in the basket on his bike, and began walking her back over the bridge. As Lily said goodbye and walk away, Severus felt slightly ashamed that he hadn’t gotten Lily anything. He wished he had the money to buy her jewelry.


	16. Black Eyes & Blue Lilies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very much recommend listening to "We're Going To Be Friends" by The White Stripes. Very much the vibes.

The school year was boring as ever, but Severus had never been happier. It seemed that his mother was also in a better mood. Abraxas visited them once every two weeks for the first few months, but then had begun coming over more regularly. Severus couldn’t remember the last time he had heard the muffled conversations of French elites. He had bought Severus loads of books about Potions and Alchemy, and mentioned how he used to copy off of his mother’s Potion’s homework regularly.

Tobias, although present in the back of both Eileen and Severus’ minds, was becoming less of a bother. Severus was still terrified every time he would come home, hoping he wasn’t home or that he was already in bed. But even when he was, and Severus would be yelled at or worse, he still had Lily to look forward to- and Eileen had Abraxas to look forward to.

Severus had even gotten over his stutter, which he was thrilled about. Tom Delmar hadn’t noticed- he never gave Severus the opportunity to actually demonstrate it, but Severus didn’t seem to mind. When it had gotten into December, Severus was worried that Lily wouldn’t want to meet up anymore because of the snow- but their weeping willow tree became the perfect spot for building snow forts and were now a battleground for snowball fights. Lily _never_ missed, and Severus had told Lily he wasn’t _actually_ trying and that he let her win (which they both knew to be a lie).

And when January had arrived, Severus made sure to tell his mother that she mustn’t wish him a 'Happy Birthday' until the 19th, and that if she even thought about giving him cake on any day other than the 19th, that he would never speak to her again. Lily had said the same thing to her parents, but they still insisted they throw her a party. Lily had told them it would have to be a joint Birthday Party, and they had agreed to it- they had said many times how they wanted to meet Severus anyways.

“I don’t think I have anyone to invite.” Severus had admitted while they were building another snowman. Lily shrugged, “You’re inviting me, right?” She had joked. He had rolled his eyes at this but smiled, happy he had at least one person to invite to his birthday party.

On January 19th, Severus woke extra early, and wore his school uniform- it was the fanciest thing he owned and this was a very big day. _The_ big day. Severus had asked Abraxas for cologne a week before, which both he and his mother laughed at, asking him why in the world would he need it. Of course, he didn’t tell them that he would need it for meeting Lily’s parents, but didn’t press the issue anymore.

Severus had made Lily promise she wouldn’t get him anything, and when Lily had hesitantly agreed, Severus had raised his brow in suspicion and had to take out his bible again to make her _swear_ she wouldn’t get him anything. Which she only did after a long argument.

Severus, wickedly, _had_ gotten Lily something.

Severus was pretty quiet on the way to Lily’s house. He hadn’t seen the houses in Cokeworth so up close before, and he was shocked at how big they actually were. Lily lived in what looked like the biggest one, which made sense of course- she was the only one in Cokeworth that deserved it.

Blue lights were decorated all over the house, which Severus learned was at Lily’s request. Before they made it to the door, Severus had stopped and placed his hand over his chest, terrified. It seemed almost blasphemous for someone like him to cross over the picket fence. He felt so uncomfortable and worried and anxious if Lily’s parents would like him or not.

“They like everyone.” Lily assured, tapping her foot impatiently.

Severus sighed, and shook his head, letting Lily drag him up the porch steps. When Lily reached for the door knob, Severus quickly swatted her hand away. “We should knock!” He hissed.

Lily furrowed her brows, “This is _my_ house!” She snapped back.

Severus scoffed, and crossed his arms. “Still…” He muttered. Lily laughed and opened the door, walking in first. Severus nervously stepped inside behind her. The entire house smelled like cinnamon, cake, and fresh linen.

“Hello, hello.” Lily chimed, taking off her coat. Severus copied her and took his off, his eyes scanning the entry of the house- catching framed paintings, plants, and beautiful hardwood flooring.

“Hello, hello!” A woman’s voice chimed back, and Severus straightened his posture as much as he could when two adults came into the entryway. Lily’s Father was almost as tall as Tobias was, and had small green eyes under his thick rimmed glasses. Lily’s mother was quite short, and almost as pretty as Lily was.

_Wait! Why in the world do I have to impress a muggle? Ridiculous!_

“So, _this_ is Mr. Snape, eh?” Her Father chuckled putting out his hand. Severus shook it at once, and nodded his head.

“Yes, hello. Um, very nice meeting you, M-Mr. Evans?” Severus stammered, turning red. Mr. Evans smiled, “You’ve got a good handshake.” He chuckled.

Severus sighed in relief and met Mrs. Evans with a 'good' handshake. “Lily talks an awful lot about you!” She laughed. “We were worried she was making you up, actually.” Mr. Evans joked. Severus chuckled and Lily had scoffed, taking his hand and leading him up the stairs- scolding at her parents for apparently embarrassing her, and to call for them when they were done setting up.

Severus was amazed by Lily’s house, they had white carpets, and there wasn’t a stain _anywhere._ At the end of the hallway on the second floor, was Lily’s bedroom. “They made me clean it.” Lily said, opening the door.

Severus’ jaw dropped; her room was almost the size of his entire living room. The walls were a subtle pink, her bed was massive, with tons of pillows and stuffed animals that Severus had only seen in shop windows. Lily also had large book cases flooded with books that Severus had seen at the library, only these looked new, and not torn and worn at all. She had a large white desk, and an easel in the corner of the room, along with a chest at the end of her bed that Severus guessed was filled with toys.

“Do you want to play a board game? Petunia and her friends are coming later.” Lily suggested, looking at the tower of options by the bookcase. Severus furrowed his brows, remembering that unfortunately, _Petunia_ would be joining them- along with her muggle friends.

Severus agreed, but had a hard time concentrating on Ploy- everything in Lily’s bedroom was so bright and colourful- it was like being in a toy store. He decided very quickly that there would be no way he would ever let Lily come over to his house.

“We’re still going to have our birthday party at Hogwarts, right?” Lily asked, looking up at him.

Severus nodded and rolled his dice. “We’ll have them in the Slytherin common room, that’s where all the birthday parties are held.” He explained.

“What if we aren’t sorted in the same House?”

Severus looked up at Lily and furrowed his brows. _What a ridiculous question_. “ _Obviously_ we’ll be sorted in the same House, Lily.”

“But what if we don’t? What if I get sorted into Slytherin and you get sorted into Hufflepuff?” Lily asked, now looking worried.

“ _Hufflepuff?”_ Severus snorted, “ _Please_. We’re both going to be sorted into Slytherin, and that’s the end of that.”

“But what if we don’t, and then we’ll have different common rooms, and then we won’t be able to even have our Birthday Party, we can’t just have them separately- that’ll defeat the whole purpose! And we can’t just hold two at the same time and make everyone go to each one-“

Severus pressed his finger over Lily’s lips, stopping the rampage of worried thoughts. Lily furrowed her brows, but accepted that her friend was right- there’s no way they’d be sorted into different houses. Right?

Petunia, along with her herd of muggle friends, barged into Lily’s room right when Lily was about to sink Severus’ last battleship. Severus counted six- no- probably three hundred girls that were now flooding Lily’s bedroom. All their eyes were on the wizard, staring at him as if he was some zoo animal.

“He isn’t as ugly as you said he would be.” One of them laughed. Before Severus could even react, another muggle girl chimed in, “So, Lily, this your boyfriend?”

“He’s _not_ my boyfriend! And thanks a lot for knocking!” Lily hissed, crossing her arms. Severus had never felt more hurt by something Lily had said- it was quite possibly the worst thing he had heard in months, but he couldn’t say he was surprised of course…still, he desperately wished she wouldn’t have corrected the muggle girl… at least not so quickly.

The girl who had said Severus wasn’t _that_ ugly (how nice of her) sat down beside him. “I’m Rachel.” The girl introduced herself proudly. Severus furrowed his brows; Lily had told him about Rachel- and how utterly selfish she was. He decided to ignore her completely, and look back down at their board game.

“Petunia said you didn’t know how to talk. That true?” Another girl asked, sitting down on the other side of him. Severus clenched his jaw, remembering how Petunia had teased him about his stutter.

“I know how to talk.” Severus scoffed, glancing at Lily- hoping she would banish these crowd of muggle girls who were over staying their welcome. “Yeah, he isn’t doing that funny thing anymore. Hey, Severus, do it for us, won’t you? S-S-S-Say S-S-S-Something!” Petunia laughed, nudging him with her foot.

The muggle girls burst out laughing, and Severus clenched his jaw, wishing he could think of something witty and equally hurtful to say back at her.

“Can’t you just leave us alone? It’s _our_ Birthday, you know. Mum and Dad _made me_ invite all of you.” Lily snapped, gesturing for the door.

“But we want to know all about him, Lily! Petunia said you live in Spinner’s End, what’s that like? Ever mugged anyone? Is that why you’ve got a black-eye?” Rachel asked, tapping his shoulder. Severus felt a wave of embarrassment, and shook his head, his mind beginning to race.

“No, Lily’s right.” Petunia sighed. “Oh, and Severus? Don’t steal anything while you’re here, okay?”

Severus felt as if he had sunk into the floor, the room going quiet, he didn’t even make out what Lily had shouted in response. He quickly checked the pockets of his trousers to make sure he hadn’t accidentally nicked something. He had a rather large ball of tears already forming in the back of his throat, and something about the way that both Rachel and the muggle girl next to him was laughing right at him made him feel like he was going to explode with either tears, or rage. Probably both.

When Lily had pushed them all out of her room, she had sighed in annoyance. “Don’t listen to them, Sev. They’re all idiots.”

Severus swallowed the ball of tears and scoffed, crossing his arms, “ _Muggles.”_

When Mrs. and Mr. Evans had finished setting up the cake, balloons and firecrackers, Severus and Lily were forced to come out of her room and join the herd of idiots’ downstairs. When Severus and Lily both blew out their candles, Severus wished for the same thing he did every year, along with one he had just made up on the spot:

For Tobias to never come home, and that Lily and him would both be sorted into Slytherin.

After the party, Lily began putting on her coat. “I can drive you home,” Mrs. Evans offered as Severus began doing the same. Severus shook his head, and insisted they had a system and that it was and will always continue to work, and that they certainly didn’t need a ride home, not now or ever. When Lily walked Severus back to his side of the bridge, she laughed when Severus turned her around, and began walking her back over to her side.

“Sorry if Tuny and her nasty friends ruined it.” Lily apologized.

“It’s fine. I had fun.” Severus said, truthfully. He cleared his throat, and his heart began to race. He shouldn’t have had so much cake, the sugar rush along with the anxiety of giving Lily her first present was about to swallow him whole.

“I got you something!” Severus blurted out.

Lily immediately began shouting at him, and that he shouldn’t have, and how it wasn’t fair since she didn’t get him anything and that- Severus had to shush her again and only lifted his finger once Lily rolled her eyes and laughed.

He cleared his throat again, and took out the present from his coat pocket- wrapped in newspaper and sealed with blue wax. Lily smiled widely and began tearing it open. She opened the box to see- to her initial disappointment- a bud of some sort. She furrowed her auburn brows slightly and took it out of the box. Severus laughed, knowing that look of confusion well- he often saw it when she tried to read his penmanship.

Severus took the bud from her and held it in his hand, opening it up, Lily smiled to now see a perfectly bloomed blue Lily. “It’ll never die, either. I charmed it and everything!” Severus said nervously, handing it back to her. Lily gasped, “You know how to do that?” She asked.

“I… did get some help…but it took a long time! I would have gotten you something else, but I don’t know…My Mum hasn’t gone to work too much and- “

“I love it!” Lily interrupted him, smelling it. Severus smiled, hoping she wasn’t lying. Although, Lily was a terrible liar, so he didn’t worry too much. She hugged him goodbye and warned him to not be late tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, Hogwarts is coming soon!!! I promise!! <3


	17. Halloween & Churchill

As the snow began to melt, Severus once again felt a rock form in his stomach. Spring was soon, which meant Summer was soon, which meant Lily would be gone again. He would often tell Lily how she should just refuse to go on their holiday, and stay in Cokeworth; but Lily simply argued back that he could easily just come with them if he got his parent’s permission.

Severus considered, in his most desperate moments, of actually asking his mother if he _could_ go with Lily and her family to Rome for the summer- but decided against it. He knew she was going to refuse, mostly because Tobias would definitely notice if Severus was gone. Although, Severus didn’t know _why_ exactly Tobias would _want_ him around, it’s not like he ever helped him with anything besides letting his anger out.

They had gotten quite far on making their own language, they had down basic conversation, but as with any major project they would begin- they got too distracted with other projects to continue.

Petunia had bothered them a few times since their Birthday Party, but Severus made an effort to block those memories out as soon as they were over. He was getting quite good at just letting his soul escape him when that muggle girl came round- and instead used that time ignoring Petunia to simply watch with fascination as Lily braided her hair, or set up their board game.

They were also bothered by the Barker Boys, but only twice. The first must have been on accident; the Boys seemed thrilled to see Severus up on a romantic tree with (as they called from down below) his _bird._ Severus had climbed down and yelled at them to go away, which made Lily beg the question of why exactly Severus was so keen on not letting anyone join them under their tree. As soon as Severus had spotted Petunia with Lily, he had dragged the two girls onto Lily’s side of the bridge, and spent the day at the park.

Severus had simply told her to never question him on matters as important as this again, and that the Willow Order wasn’t just something one could join without proving themselves. He had even, in his frustration with the ridiculous question, spent an entire night formulating the process for one to follow if they wished to join their Willow Order:

  1. Only those processing powers of a witch, or wizard, may join.
  2. Magical ability will be proven in a series of trials which will be set by Knight Severus Snape.
  3. Those who pass the many trials may only be permitted to join if they have unanimous approval by all members of the W.O. (Severus Snape and Lily Evans will have veto power).
  4. Anyone who seeks to join the W.O. without following the guidelines, will be met with hellfire and be assured absolute destruction. 
    1. Those who are able to escape said hellfire and destruction, will be hunted down by either founder of the W.O. 
      1. Either founder will be given two years to find the damned, and if they are not found, they not only will bring shame to the W.O., but shame to themselves.



Lily had said this was too dramatic, and that Severus was taking it all too far, but still agreed and signed to it anyways. Anytime Lily would suggest Petunia join them after that day, the offer was met with a grumbling Severus Snape who would pull out the document (which to Lily’s surprise, seemed to always be in his pocket) and Lily would have to listen to him reading it all out again with much pride.

Severus noticed how the closer it came to Summer; the more cakes Lily would bring every day. He realized she must actually feel bad about leaving Severus all alone (it’s not like he tried to keep it a secret how bloody awful life was when she was gone), so he tried his best to assure her that no amount of baked goods would ever answer to the level of betrayal her summer holiday would be- and that she shouldn’t waste her time in trying to make it any easier.

Lily found this all hilarious, Severus was sure that she must think that he was simply kidding or being dramatic, the way that she would almost burst into tears when he would go on and on about how evil she was being by leaving England and going to a country that they used to be at war with just a few decades ago. Severus would go out of his way to quote Churchill as much as he could and told Lily how she ought to get her passport revoked.

Italy was definitely top of the list of things Severus hated with a burning passion. It had taken the spot over Tom Delmar, which was certainly very telling.

Lily had told Severus before she left that he ought to be less of a drama queen in their letters to each other, and that just because she didn’t send as many as he did, that didn’t mean she was ignoring him. Severus had scoffed at this and said how he never noticed if it took another day for her to reply, and that he wouldn’t care if she decided to not write back at all (which they both knew to be lies).

Their goodbye was the same as it was last summer, they had walked each other to both sides of the bridge once, and hugged goodbye in the middle. Severus felt embarrassed again that Lily was the first to let go, but of course kept his wits about him and only waited until after he had gotten home to shed his tears.

The Summer was duller than the last. His mother had told him how he ought to spend it riding his bike outside, which made Severus wonder why exactly Eileen was so keen on getting him out of the house all of the sudden- especially when Tobias wasn’t home.

He had written to Lily, asking what her hypothesis was, which she replied:

_I have a hunch that she wants you gone so she can send for Abraxas._

Severus thought this was a ridiculous idea, and written back saying exactly that:

_What a ridiculous idea, Watson. If we are to break this conspiracy, we need to follow good and educated guesses- not hunches. Please write back with an actual hypothesis, or do not write back at all._

_As Always,_

_Severus._

_P.S. If you don’t have an actual hypothesis, you can still write back._

When the Summer had finally drawn to a close, Severus had not fallen asleep waiting on the bridge for Lily again, but had instead fallen asleep in their tree like a, as Severus had called himself, _an absolute idiot._

When October had arrived, Lily demanded that they both go tick-or-treating with Petunia and her horrible muggle friends. Severus had said how awful of an idea that was, but Lily had simply taken a deep breath in- and began the rampage of words to which Severus ended with his finger over her mouth- and compliance.

They had gone back and forth for days about what they should be for Halloween, but they finally settled on dementors. Severus had a picture of what they were supposed to look like in one of his mother’s books, and they spent an entire day creating their costumes. Lily had also powdered both their faces with a white powder her mother apparently used- Severus didn’t like how it smelled so much like flowers, and told her that dementors do not smell like flowers to which Lily had replied that he had never seen one- so he wouldn’t know for sure.

“Aren’t vampires supposed to have sharp fangs?” Rachel had asked, tugging on Severus’ cloak. It seemed that muggles certainly knew nothing, and that apparently Petunia and her muggle friends thought they were going as vampires.

Severus had tilted his head, and scanned Rachel’s costume, replying, “Aren’t Princesses supposed to be pretty?” which to his surprise was apparently _rude_ to say. Lily had told him that she would be the one to deal with them, and they both agreed that was probably for the better since now Rachel seemed to be crying.

At the end of the night, Severus had told Lily that the she was the reason their costume went over everyone’s heads because there’s no way she could ever pass for something so ugly- which made Lily blush for whatever reason. Severus had rolled his eyes, thinking that Lily was probably just feeling guilty that everyone didn’t understand their costumes. Of course, there was no way for muggles to know what dementors even looked like, but still…it was rather disappointing.

What made up for it was all the candy and chocolate Severus had collected. And Severus was excited that he could finally contribute to their daily feasts for at least a few weeks.

As the snow began to fall again, they were growing with more anticipation than ever. They’d be turning eleven soon, which meant they would receive their letters. Lily made Severus swear he wouldn’t open up his letter without her, since he’d be getting his much earlier.

When Christmas had come, Lily had gotten Severus more stamps and blue wax, along with the fanciest set of playing cards he had ever seen. Severus felt too anxious to take out of the pretty wrapping they had come in and instead placed them on his desk, displaying them- and never actually playing with them. Severus hadn't gotten her anything in return, which Lily hadn’t noticed at all.


	18. Achillies & Mumblings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're having a good day! Back to back chapters for today, I should have another two up tomorrow! Thank you so much for the kudos and comments! :)

“You have mail, _mon prince.”_ Eileen’s voice laughed sweetly, shaking his shoulder awake. 

Severus gasped and sat up immediately, grabbing the envelope from his mother to see the tan coloured envelope scribbled with Severus’ address, and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry seal. His letter had finally come! “Open it!” Eileen said, her eyes slightly teary. Severus was about to tear it open, but stopped.

“Lily and I are supposed to open it together,” He sighed, placing the envelope on his nightstand. Eileen seemed slightly disappointed, but shrugged. She looked excited again and turned back to face him, “Abraxas’ will be taking you to Diagon Alley tomorrow, yes? No willow tree tomorrow.” She tapped his nose before getting up.

Severus frowned, “Can’t he take both of us, Lily and me? She’ll get her letter on the 30th.” Eileen simply laughed and shook her head, saying something in French before shutting the door behind her. Severus rolled his eyes and fell back into bed, picking up the letter again. He desperately wanted to open it. Maybe he could reseal it? He sighed and tossed it back onto his nightstand, lifting the duvet cover back over his face.

“Can’t I come?” Lily pleaded when Severus had told her the news. He shrugged, and tried mimicking what his mother had said in horribly butchered French- which made Lily laugh. Severus kicked some more snow onto the large pile they were planning on turning into an igloo, and stuffed his hands in his coat pockets.

“Too bad we can’t open our letters during our party.” Lily sighed while forming a snowball. Severus narrowed her eyes at her, worried she would start another snowball fight- _she never misses, blasted witch._

“Don’t invite those awful _girls_ again, Lily.” Severus scoffed, kicking the snow more harshly. He still hadn’t gotten over the many comments and jokes Petunia’s friends had made last year, and he was even more furious that he hadn’t had the bravery to snap back at them. He would have to make a list of insults to use, for next time. If there was going to even _be_ a next time.

Lily laughed and tossed a snowball at him, hitting the target on his shoulder. Severus scoffed, and pretended it hadn’t slightly hurt at all. “We could always just have it at your house?” Lily suggested, as she began forming another snowball.

Severus laughed out loud at that, and began forming his own. “Wouldn’t be a _Happy_ Birthday if we had it at my house.”

“Why can’t I come over again? Any dead bodies under beds I should know about?” Lily asked.

Severus chuckled but then his heart sank, and he dropped the snowball he was about to throw at the witch.

_The damn library books!_

He sighed in agony and fell back into the snow, wanting to be swallowed up by an avalanche. How had he put it off for over a year now? Lily laughed as she sat down next to him, and began burying him in snow. Severus shut his eyes, ready for death. There was no way he could return them now; he might as well never step into a library ever again.

“Why don’t you just return them? Seriously, my Mum can drive us!” Lily scolded, piling snow over his chest. Severus sighed loudly again, and wished he had a white handkerchief to dramatically bring to his eyes.

“Who says I want to return them anyways? You know what? I hate libraries.” He decided, looking up at her. Lily rolled her eyes and took a twig off the ground, sticking it right on top of the pile of snow now covering Severus from neck to toe- marking his grave.

“We’ll add libraries to the list, then.” She decided.

Abraxas had come as soon as Tobias had left for work, in the same way he always did: apparating right into their living room. Severus had grown quite used to his visits, it was so regular and frequent that the aura of mystery around the wizard had dimmed significantly. This time, he had brought with him a dark black silk cloak that Severus put over his muggle clothing. He was still in a foul mood that his mother wasn’t going to take him- but he had already fought that fight.

“Best behavior, yes?” Eileen sighed, brushing Severus’ hair back. Severus scoffed when his mother kissed his cheek goodbye, fearing her red lipstick had left a mark.

“We shan’t get into much trouble,” Abraxas chuckled in a low voice, extending his arm for Severus to take. Severus knew what apparating was, but didn’t know it would feel so awful. He hadn’t ever been on a roller-coaster before- but this was certainly what it felt like, like being pulled from every direction and tossed upside down, then around again.

When he opened his eyes, he had stumbled backward, feeling as though he had just been dropped from several kilometers. He let go of Abraxas arm and his hands slapped over his ears, feeling a rather piercing headache. “Come now, it isn’t so bad.” Abraxas chuckled, ruffling Severus’ hair.

Severus forced a smile, even though he was rather annoyed with the wizard for not giving him any warning. When he had finally come to, his eyes widened to see the alley he had heard so much about- Diagon Alley. A long cobblestone road packed with tons of wizarding shops, and brightly coloured signs- the air smelled like herbs, baked goods, and rain. Severus must have had his jaw wide open, because he could almost taste it. He saw all sorts of witches and wizards in dashing robes and pointed hats, and some even mounted brooms that flew over their heads.

“Where _is_ that boy?” Abraxas sighed, quirking a brow and checking his silver pocket watch.

Severus clasped his hands in front of him, once again wishing he owned a pocket watch. He wondered for a moment if Abraxas could get him one if he asked- but decided against it. “Ah! There you are.” Abraxas said, putting his pocket watch back into his waistcoat. Severus looked to see Lucius Malfoy, and immediately felt as if he wanted to curl into his shell. Lucius was just as intimidating as his father, but for some reason, carried himself in a manner that was even more prestigious than Her Royal Majesty.

By Lucius’ hip, was a house-elf who wore what looked to be an old potato sack of some sort, and had large veiny green eyes that he kept to the ground, and boney hands covered in bandages that he was rubbing nervously together. Severus stood as tall as he could when Lucius joined them. “ _Someone_ lost track of time.” Lucius hissed, his lips in a sneer. Abraxas shot a glance at the house-elf who looked almost as anxious as Severus felt.

Lucius looked over at Severus and narrowed his pale grey eyes at him, extending his hand. Severus shook it hello. “Malfoy. Lucius Malfoy.” Lucius said carefully. Severus smiled, hoping Lucius was as friendly as his father was, and stammered out his own name. But instead, he furrowed his brows slightly and glanced up at his father,

“ _Snape?”_ Lucius scoffed. “ _Prince.”_ Abraxas corrected. Lucius seemed much more satisfied with that answer.

Severus couldn’t stop staring up at Lucius during the first few shops, he was much cooler than Trevor Hilton was, _that_ was certain. Severus thanked Merlin for the fact he’d gotten over his stutter, he was sure Lucius would make fun of it.

“I’ve got to run to Gringotts, Lucius, you remember what you needed for your first year- yes?” Abraxas asked, checking his silver pocket watch again. Lucius was piling yet another bag onto Dobby’s arms for him to carry, and waved his hand for his father to leave him alone- and said that yes- of course he remembered.

Abraxas looked down at him before he left, “Purchase whatever you’d like, Severus.”

Severus smiled widely, and watched the wizard make his way out of the shop. When he turned back to where Lucius was, the fourth year Slytherin was standing right in front of him, looking very curious. “Father says you live in the muggle world.”

Severus scoffed, and felt his face go red- oh gods, why in the world would Abraxas tell anyone that? It was more than embarrassing. Severus felt mortified.

“Against my will.” He answered, shaking his head.

To Severus’ shock, Lucius laughed at his poor attempt of a cry for help.

The first place they visited was Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. When Lucius stepped inside, they were immediately taken to a private dressing room upstairs. Madam Malkin didn’t see to them, a tall skinny man with a funny looking moustache did, and he did so all while mumbling to himself. Severus couldn’t make out any words the man was mumbling to himself as he brought a cushion of pins and needles over his robes.

“House patch will go right there… we’ll keep it blank for now of course.” The man sighed, tapping his chin- analyzing his work. “What are you doing with it still on boy? Go on, take it off- I’ve got to make the alterations.” Severus quickly took off his robes and handed it to the impatient man who was now mumbling once more.

Lucius talked the whole way to Ollivanders Wand Shop, and Severus didn’t mind at all. Lucius, Severus learned, was probably the second most interesting person he’d ever talked to. And it didn’t take long to get used to his smugness, Severus thought Lucius’ smugness was very much deserved. When they walked into Ollivanders, Severus’ eyes went to the towering shelves that seemed to go on and on, boxes stuffed closely together- there didn’t seem to be any sort of organization- it was chaotic.

Ollivander looked older than time, but had a rather eerie look in his eyes. Severus almost didn’t notice the floating tape measurer that seemed to be measuring everything from his arm length, leg length and now head width. “Now… let’s see…” Ollivander skipped back over to the shelves, and took out around eight boxes. He began mumbling to himself, just like the man at Malkin’s. Severus guessed that once you reach a certain age as these gentlemen have- one would develop some sort of habit for mumbling.

Severus must have tried around twenty different wand options before he began seriously wondering if he was even a wizard at all.

“Don’t worry! We shall find the right one for you, it’s just a matter of patience now! My, you are certainly very…picky…aren’t you?” Ollivander _mumbled_ to himself, looking almost as frustrated as Severus and Lucius were. Lucius kept checking the time, and began sighing and huffing, walking around the shop.

“It’s not _my_ fault.” Severus scoffed, crossing his arms at Lucius who was now glaring at him.

“Are you _sure_ you’re even a bloody wizard?” Lucius groaned in a sneer.

Severus frowned, and felt his face turn red. It seemed that Lucius was thinking the same thing he had.

“No, no! I quite remember having the same exact issue with your mother, _Eileen Prince_ wasn’t it? We must have patience; it is the wand who chooses the wizard!” Ollivander laughed, bringing another handful of options.

“Now, _this_ must be it. Ebony, Dragon Heartstring, eleven inches.” Ollivander sighed, after another failed eight attempts. When Severus took the jet-black wand, he felt rather different- as if it was almost vibrating, wanting to be used. He waved it in the air, and green sparks flew out the end- making Lucius laugh out a _finally._

“Mine is made of Dragon Heartstring too.” Lucius said as they walked out of the shop. Severus felt rather proud of this news. He wondered what Lily’s would be made out of. 

“I think we’ve got everything, haven’t we?” Lucius asked, scratching the back of his head. “Did you bring your list with you? It should have been in your letter.”

Severus blushed and shook his head shamefully. He hadn’t even opened it yet. “Well…let’s hope you haven’t forgotten anything.” Lucius sighed. Severus suddenly gasped, and tugged on Lucius sleeve, “Sorry! Do you think I could get a pet?”

Lucius looked rather surprised, “Haven’t you got an owl of your own?” He asked. Severus shook his head; owls would be a strange pet to have on Spinner’s End. And he didn’t even want to think about what would happen to the owl if it got into Tobias’ way. “I don’t want an owl.” Severus answered.

“You want a _toad?”_ Lucius scoffed, his eyes scanning Severus up and down again, wondering if he was insane. Severus rolled his eyes, “Not a _toad_ , I’d like a cat.”

Lucius slowly nodded his head, and seemed more satisfied with this answer.

They waited for Abraxas at The Leaky Cauldron, after picking up Severus a black cat, and his perfectly tailored robes. Lucius watched Severus consume almost half of the entire menu with a rather concerned look on his face.

“Do they not feed you in the muggle world?” Lucius asked, raising his brows. Severus laughed and put down his (very well used) fork. “My Mum isn’t really a chef.” Severus admitted. Lucius scoffed, and poured Severus another cup of Spiced Pumpkin Juice.

When Abraxas returned, Severus noticed how quickly Lucius straightened in his seat, and brought his elbows off the table. Severus did the same. After Abraxas listened to Lucius’ many complaints of how long Ollivander took to find Severus a wand, and how rude the tailor at Malkin’s was, he sent Lucius home to the Malfoy Manor with Dobby- and apparated Severus back to Spinner’s End after double checking his silver pocket watch.

Severus had drifted to sleep that night with his unnamed black cat resting at the foot of the bed, and his wand tucked under his pillow.

“What are you going to name him?” Lily asked, petting the unnamed cat’s head. Severus was rather annoyed, it seemed as if his new cat liked Lily more than it liked him- but he couldn’t say he was exactly surprised.

“I don’t know yet.” He answered, watching his cat climb over Lily’s lap, purring away.

“Can I name him?” Lily asked, hopeful as ever. Severus considered this for a long while. “Any ideas?” He asked.

Lily narrowed her eyes and carefully examined the cat who had now fallen completely asleep. “Haven’t thought up a name yet.” She admitted in a shrug.

Severus rolled his eyes, “Well, we’re back to square one then, Lily.”

“I didn’t know it would be this difficult! Seriously, now you’ve put the responsibility in my hands!” Lily argued, furrowing her brows.

Severus laughed and fell back onto the snow, “I never agreed I’d let you name him.”

“You’re obviously going to let me name him.” 

“Says who?” Severus asked, quirking a brow. “You don’t even have any ideas yet!”

Lily smiled and took a deep breath in, opened her mouth, and began a rampage.

“I have tons of ideas for names. But it’s all about finding the right name for the right cat, and clearly the cat likes me more than he likes you. And that’s not me being mean, Sev, that’s just the way that life is. I can’t help that animals love me, I think it’s my gentle nature or something- and that’s not to say you aren’t gentle or anything, it’s just I think you’re quite intimidating sometimes—"

Severus furrowed his brows and pressed his finger over Lily’s lips to stop the train of speech that was now flooding the inside of their igloo. He sighed, and lifted his finger, only for Lily to take another deep breath in. He quickly placed his finger over her mouth again, his brows in a furrow.

“You can name the damn cat, Evans.” He agreed.

Lily smiled and looked proudly down at the unnamed cat in her lap. Severus told Lily all about Diagon Alley, and told her what to order at the Leaky Cauldron, and what she ought to skip. He also explained to her in detail what House-Elves looked like. He said that Petunia looked a lot like one, which Lily did not find that funny. He then described how Ollivander and the tailor treated him, and asked her if she knew _why_ old people always mumbled to themselves- which Lily did find funny.

Severus was rather proud about their little igloo, it was more like mountain of snow that iced over, and was then hollowed out- but the vision was very much still there. They had spent weeks perfecting it, Severus had stuck sharp twigs on the outside of it to ward off any trolls (or wandering Petunia’s) that might come looking for them, which Lily seemed pleased about.

Being in their igloo, they would only find out if the sun had gone down when it became unbearably cold. And then It quickly developed into a game of chicken- who would be evil enough to notice it go cold first, and ruin the perfect fun they were having. Severus took it upon himself, being the bigger person, to ruin the fun for today- so that they wouldn’t get sick.

“Ah, chilly in here.” Severus yawned, rubbing his hands together. Lily then gasped loudly, making him turn to face her- thinking the cat must’ve bitten her.

“That’s it! Severus Snape, meet the newest member of the Willow Order.” She picked up the cat so it was face to face with the wizard. “Achilles!”

Severus was quite happy with the name Lily had picked out, and took out the rules and regulations from his pocket, adding a very important clause: _Pets may join the W.O. without the need for trials, if approved by both Lily Evans and Severus Snape._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to make Snape's wand like the one he had in the movies, can you imagine if he had one that was super bedazzled? honestly, I already regret not making it bright pink and bedazzled just for the laughs xx


	19. Letters & Chess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone has had a nice week! Thank you so much for your comments <3

Severus had invited Tom Delmar to come to his Birthday Party upon Lily’s request. Much to his horror, Tom had actually agreed. “Why did I have to invite him? He said yes, for whatever reason.” Severus had complained, his mind racing with possible reasons as to _why_ Lily would want to meet such an _awful_ individual.

“Because It’ll give Tuny and her _awful_ friends someone else to bother.” Lily answered as if it was a ridiculous question. Severus widened his eyes, never before hearing a more brilliant idea. He nodded in approval, and handed Lily a carrot to stick into their snowman.

The _plan_ was quite brilliant. The _execution_ was quite possibly the most torturous ordeal that Severus had ever gone through. Tom had gone on and on about whatever it was he was going on and on about, and it had gotten to a point where Severus was debating if he should throw Tom into the river, or himself. The latter idea played over and over in Severus’ mind, possibly being the only thing that kept him sane by the time they reached Lily’s front door.

Tom Delmar, the swine that he was, reached for the doorknob _without_ knocking. Severus grabbed the boy’s wrist and pulled it away, mortified. “ _What?”_ Tom had snapped, now rubbing his wrist.

“You have to _knock.”_ Severus spoke clearly, as if Tom was slow, and knocked three times on the painted red door.

Severus was disappointed to see Petunia answer the door.

“What do you want?” She asked in a sneer.

Tom raised his hand at Severus, and leaned into the boy’s ear to ask him a ridiculous question. “Are you sure you _knocked_ at the right house?”

Severus had to contain himself. Tom Delmar to his left, Petunia at his front- he was sure he was going to set either them or himself on fire. “Lily!” He shouted into the house, desperate and furious.

The plan was quite brilliant. Severus and Lily watched with fascination as Petunia’s herd of awful friends bombarded Tom with a rampage of questions. Lily was surprised of how much Tom adored the attention, but Severus wasn’t surprised at all.

Severus had gotten into the habit of raising his brows as high as he could at Lily and roll his eyes each time Tom lied about a certain detail in a story. Which happened quite a lot. “You’re captain of the football team?” One of Petunia’s foul friends had asked. Severus looked over at Lily and she had to keep herself from laughing.

“Been the captain every year, actually.” Tom sighed as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Severus isn't on _any_ teams.” He added.

“That makes sense.” Petunia laughed (much too hard, Severus didn’t know what exactly was so funny).

Severus narrowed his eyes at her and had to keep himself from spitting out an insult; it was Lily’s birthday party too- and he didn’t want to upset her. He never understood why Lily could go on and on about how much Petunia annoyed her, but the moment _he_ said anything about how troll-like her sister was, Lily would come running to her defence.

It was quite easy, after a while, to ignore everyone else. Lily and Severus were tucked away in the corner of Lily’s bedroom, halfway through a chess game, and Severus was sure he was winning. “Are you _sure_ you want to move your rook there?” Severus asked, a smile curling over his lips. This was it. Checkmate in three moves, he was absolutely sure of it. He was going to win!

“Yes, quite sure. Checkmate, by the way.” Lily sighed, knocking over Severus’ king.

“I _let_ you win that one, you know.” Severus scoffed, crossing his arms.

“ _Sure.”_

“Shut up. Set it up again.” Severus sighed, knowing very well he hadn’t let Lily win at all. As Lily set up another round, Tom Delmar escaped from Petunia’s friends and, to Severus’ annoyance, sat beside him. “Didn’t know you played chess, Severus.” Tom chuckled, seemingly surprised.

“I don’t. I just move the pieces around and hope for the best.” Severus sighed sarcastically, forcing a smile. Lily laughed and added, “Neither of us actually know how to play the actual game at all, really. We've made up our own rules.”

Tom, being the complete idiot as he was, found this quite fascinating. So, for the next hour, Severus and Lily explained to Tom the complex rules of their made-up game using chess pieces. The Bishop could not only move diagonally, but also one step forward like a pawn could. The knights could move in an ‘L’ shape, but they could only move twice in the entire game. The Queen and King had switched roles, and only half of the pawns could actually be used.

It had gotten so complex, that Severus and Lily were sure they had genuinely invented a completely new type of game on accident, and began writing the rules down so they could attempt to actually play it for another day.

“Could you teach me how to play?” Rachel asked, sitting next to Severus. It seemed that Petunias awful friends had noticed their little distraction had gone elsewhere. “Maybe later, Rachel.” Lily said, narrowing her eyes. “We’re in the middle of a rematch.”

Severus nodded and leaned forward, his eyes focussed on the board, ready to play this new version of chess they had just made up. “You can play winner.” Severus suggested.

This new version of chess was surprisingly much more difficult than regular chess. Because each player was only given nineteen seconds to choose their move, it went by pretty quickly- and to Severus’ glee, he actually won the first round. Rachel had cheered, and stood up, waiting to take Lily’s place in front of the board only for the witch to roll her eyes and begin setting up the pieces again- with no intention on actually moving.

“I thought I was playing winner!” Rachel scoffed.

“You only win a game if you capture the king three times in a row.” Lily answered as if it was a ridiculous question.

“That makes no sense.” Rachel argued.

“Maybe to _you_.” Lily answered. Severus, unable to contain himself, burst out laughing. He was quite shocked to see Lily act so cruel, it was marvellous. Tom, being the wonderful gentleman he was, took care of the crying maiden who had retreated- and Severus and Lily were finally able to play their new made-up game in peace, and did so for the rest of the evening. Although, like most games, they filled the silence with conversation. And there was much to talk about.

Lily had told Severus how nervous she was about getting her letter, and how her family would react when they find out she’s a witch. Severus assured her that she shouldn’t care what muggles think of her, and that she should be nothing but excited about it. Severus had also convinced Lily to buy a cat instead of an owl, and that the Magical Menagerie where he had gotten Achilles from, had tons of cats to choose from. He also insisted that he be the one to name it, and it would only be fair since Lily was the one who named Achilles.

After Severus and Lily had finished putting on their coats after the party, Severus once again had to remind Lily’s mother that they did _not_ need a ride home, which for some reason both of Lily’s parents found quite amusing. Fortunately for Severus, Tom wasn’t so keen on walking in the cold, and had called his mother to pick him up.

“Should we invite Tom again next year?” Lily asked as they walked down her street. Severus smiled and answered that there wouldn’t be any need, since Tom won’t be going anywhere near Hogwarts.

This, made Lily stop in her tracks. “Oh! Right…” She muttered, adjusting her wool hat. Severus furrowed his brows, wondering why Lily looked sad all of the sudden. But before he could ask, Lily continued walking alongside him, and quickly changed the subject.

Severus and Lily spent the rest of the walk across the bridge listing every lie Tom Delmar had told. When Lily asked Severus why exactly he wasn’t on any teams, Severus had said that he didn’t need an excuse to spend any more time at that awful school. “Sister Brooks runs the teams now, and she’s awful.” Severus explained.

“Do you think you’ll try out for the Quidditch team?” Lily asked as Severus placed his hands on her shoulders to turn her back around. He began walking her back across the bridge to her side. “Obviously!” He exclaimed.

“I’m probably going to make captain, too. _Captain Severus Snape_. Has a nice ring to it, I think.” He added proudly. “Not as nice as _Captain Tom Delmar_ though.” Lily teased. Severus did not find this as funny as she did, but laughed out of pity. “Don’t worry, Lily. I’ll still let you try out,” He assured.

“ _Let_ me?” Lily laughed, shoving him.

“It’ll be a late birthday present!” Severus offered. “From _moi_ to _tue.”_

“How romantic!” She sighed, shaking her head. Severus widened his eyes and quite literally felt as if he had been thrown into ice water.

_Romantic? Is she mad? What on earth did she mean by that? Was it romantic because of the gesture? Or just because I said it in French? Oh Merlin, is it a combination of the two? Idiot! Wait… Why hasn’t she said anything else? Am I supposed to say something now? What should I say? We’re almost over the bridge now… You should just throw her in the water and run away, for Merlin’s sake why would she say something like that to you? It’s obviously meant to confuse you or something. What game is she playing? Oh Merlin, she’s staring at you now. Okay, you definitely have to throw her in the water now. She won’t drown, she’s taken swimming lessons… damn it, should I just jump in then? But I haven’t taken any swimming lessons. I can’t just let her save me from drowning, how embarrassing would that be? Please say something. Change the subject._

“Happy Birthday, by the way.” Lily said, slightly amused, slightly concerned as to why Severus looked so pale.

“Yes. To you also!” Severus said slowly, his mind still racing.

_Yes? To you also? Idiot!_ “Bye!” Lily laughed, rolling her eyes as she waved goodbye- walking off the bridge. Severus frowned and waved lazily at her. Before Severus could climb over the bridge and jump into the ice water that was running down below, Lily had called out again from her street, making him look back at her.

“Don’t be late tomorrow, _Captain_!”

* * *

“Your move, Lily. Or have you forgotten?” Severus asked, poking her forehead. Lily scoffed and swatted his hand away, “I know it’s my move, Severus.”

Severus furrowed his brows, slightly worried that Lily had called him by his full name. “What’s wrong then?” He sighed, crossing his arms.

Lily checked their list of rules again before moving her pawn backwards. “Nervous.” She muttered. Severus took the pawn with his knight, and rose a brow. “About?”

Lily sighed (again, for the one millionth time). “My letter’s coming in tomorrow.” She answered, knocking over the chess pieces. Severus rose his brows, and stared at the knocked over chess board. “You _were_ winning, you know.” Severus said, looking up at her.

“What if I don’t get one?” Lily burst out; her eyes wide. “What if they’ve missed my name on the list? I don’t have I don’t have a magic parent like you do. What if they don’t believe me—” Severus parted his lips, watching tears form in her green eyes.

“What if someone from Hogwarts wants to come, but they don’t know where I live? What do I do then? I don’t have their address, I can’t send them a letter, can I? What if I don’t get my letter, and you get to go, and I can’t? What if my parents refuse to believe any of it, and don’t take me to Diagon Alley? How will I get my supplies then? I can’t ask a cabbie to take me there, can I? Of course, I can’t!”

“You can use my supplies!” Severus quickly chimed, offering an immediate solution to the long list of hypothetical problems that were now echoing in their igloo.

Lily didn’t seem satisfied with this at all, and sighed (again), “What if they forget about me?” She asked slowly. “What will I do then?”

Severus heard the words leave his mouth before he could think twice about them. “Well, we just won’t go then.”

Lily looked away and down at the chess board which Severus began setting up again. Severus saw as his bible came into his field of vision, above the chess board, and looked back up at her. “Swear on it.” She hissed, furrowing her brows. Severus knew that look anywhere. A mixture of genuine fury but slight concern. 

_She thinks she’s calling some bluff? She’s more dramatic than I am…_

Severus rolled his eyes and placed his palm on it, raising his other hand. “I swear it.” He swore, without hesitation. Lily nodded in approval, and shoved Severus’ bible back into his school bag, waving a hand at him for him to continue setting up the board for another game. Satisfied.

That night, Severus looked up at the many photos pinned on his ceiling of marble statues and cups of gelato, worrying about all the things Lily had mentioned. What if Hogwarts forgot all about her? Severus never worried about getting his letter, but he hadn’t ever thought about what it would be like for Lily. He felt slightly ashamed, wishing he had paid more attention. She had been nervous for weeks; he was sure of it now. Severus raised the duvet cover over his face, closing his eyes.

After a long moment, Severus lifted the blanket from his face and quickly lit the tip of his finger into a flame, and closed his eyes.

_I take it back. Tobias can come home this year. I wish for Lily Evans to receive her letter, please._

He blew out the flame, and felt much better about using his birthday wish this way. He decided that if Lily didn’t get her letter, he would simply forge one for her.

* * *

Severus waited for what felt like decades. He had his letter (still unopened) held in his hand, his eyes glued on the bridge, waiting for Lily to come running over, but she never came. Severus considered walking all the way to her house, but didn’t want to show up without an invitation.

_Blasted witch._

He sighed, and looked down at his letter. Wanting nothing more than to open it. He looked back up at the bridge, knowing that if he did open it, he would regret it immediately. He decided he would wait another hour or two, even though his ears began to go numb. 

_Her parents might have locked her up. Petunia probably stole her letter from her. Evil troll!_

Severus sighed, and looked up at the night sky. He was sure he was going to be told off when he got home, he didn’t remember the last time he was out this late. He wished he owned a pocket watch. He wasn’t ever given a curfew, but he had an inclination that whenever his curfew was- that he was surely breaking it. But he didn’t care. This was too important.

‘Oi! Loverboy!” A voice called. Severus quickly turned around, to see Edgar Barker down the hill. He furrowed his brows at the Barker boy, “What do you want?” Severus called down, shoving his letter into his coat pocket.

Edgar smiled and walked up the hill, Severus wished Lily had bought him the sword from Rome, it would come in handy. “You aren’t running away or something are you?” Edgar asked, glancing at the igloo. “Don’t tell me you’re going to spend the night in _there.”_

Severus scoffed, and walked in front of their igloo, blocking the entrance. “Obviously not.”

Edgar laughed, and took off his wool hat, shaking off some of the snowflakes that had fallen on top of it. “Good. Cause you’ll freeze to death in there. That isn’t a good death. Quite bad one, that.”

“I’m fine, thanks.” Severus answered, his voice coming out in a chatter. Edgar chuckled again and placed his hat on Severus’ head. Then, Edgar clasped his hands behind his back and looked over at the bridge. “Didn’t come today, did she?” He asked in a soft sigh.

Severus opened his mouth to say something, but felt too sad to answer. He didn’t realize how sad and worried he actually was until that moment. He simply looked back at the bridge.

“You two had a fight?” Edgar asked, glancing down at him.

“No.” Severus answered, pulling the hat over his numb ears.

“Cause if you did, you should have flowers with you. Girls like that sort of thing, you know.” Edgar said, raising a brow knowingly.

“We didn’t have a fight.” Severus repeated.

Edgar took a deep breath in, and out. For a few moments, the boys looked over the river, staring at the empty bridge. After one cold breeze too many, Edgar clapped his hand over Severus’ back. “Alright Romeo. Call it a night.” Severus sighed, but didn’t put up a fight. He let Edgar walk him home, and went to bed, his letter unopened.

* * *

The next day, Severus was relieved to see Lily waiting for him under the willow tree. As he ran up the hill, he decided he wouldn’t mention how late he had stayed waiting for her the night before- he felt quite embarrassed about it.

She had told him everything. Lily _had_ gotten her letter, not by owl, but by a Hogwarts Professor named Minerva McGonagall. McGonagall explained the entire Wizarding World to her parents, and explained how Lily was indeed a witch, which initially made Lily’s parents laugh in disbelief- but after hours of discussion, they finally came around. Lily mentioned how her Mum actually cried, and both her parents were quick to say how proud they were.

“What did Petunia say?” Severus asked.

“See, that’s what I’m a bit nervous about… She didn’t say a word.” Lily answered, furrowing her auburn brows. “She didn’t say a word all night, actually. Even after dinner.”

“Well, that’s good, isn’t it? She can’t call you a freak anymore!” Severus chuckled. “Bet the look on her face was priceless.”

Lily shook her head, and shrugged. “I don’t know… She didn’t really seem annoyed. She looked quite sad actually.”

Severus wondered why Lily looked sad now. There she was, an opened Hogwarts acceptance letter in her hands, and she looked as sad as she did a few days ago when she was going on a rampage of how worried she was that she _wouldn’t_ get her letter.

“What was Professor McGonagall like?” Severus asked, changing the subject. Lily seemed to lighten up again. “She was wonderful! Seemed a bit serious and strict, but she was really patient. I wish you were there to stop me, I must have asked a million questions all at once.”

Severus laughed, and wondered what questions Lily must have spat out all at once. He loved it when she did that.

“She’s head of Gryffindor House, you know.” Lily added. “Did you know that?” She asked. Severus shook his head, and watched Lily’s face brighten up even more. Lily recited everything McGonagall had told her, like the names of the other Professors, and the names of the House ghosts, and what she recommended to get from the trolley on the Hogwarts Express.

“September seems so far away now!” Lily sighed as they reached her side of the bridge. “It’s going to be the longest summer ever.” Severus groaned, pulling down on his face.

Lily shook her head, “I’m sick of the snow. Aren’t you?”

Severus laughed at that, his ears still numb from yesterday night. “I hate the summer. Add it to the list, will you?” Lily promised she’d add it to the list and waved goodbye.

Severus looked down at now opened letter once Lily had left, and smiled. This was the first time any of his birthday wishes had ever come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next stop, Hogwarts!


End file.
